Modern Transportation
September 10, 2006
At the end of the work day on Friday, there was one last thing I needed to read on a web page to help solve a problem that had been vexing me for a couple weeks, but I knew that if I took the time to look at it in the office, I'd miss the bus and have to wait an extra half hour for the next one to pick me up. So I grabbed my work-issued laptop, tucked it into my backpack, and rushed off to the bus station. Once on the bus, I pulled the computer back out and began reading the web page, but soon realized that to arrive at the solution, I'd have to follow a link to another page. The next time the bus stopped to pick up a new rider, I quickly scanned for an unencrypted wireless network, connected to it, and clicked on the link, just in time to fully load the next page before the bus pulled away and out of range.
Then it occurred to me: ten years ago I would have considered such a sequence of events science fiction. The idea of retrieving information from the other side of the country through a random wireless network from a laptop while sitting on a bus would have seemed ludicrous. But like so many new technologies, we almost instantly assimilate them into our lives, considering them no more noteworthy than a bicycle or an electric light. 
I don't even think twice anymore when I see people walking down the street with white earbuds in their ears or the cyborg-like bluetooth cellphone headsets clinging to the side of their heads like barnacles. It makes me wonder how different technology will have made our lives by 2026. If we could peer 20 years into the future, would we recognize ourselves?
On a completely unrelated note, I just saw that gas prices around here have plummeted more than 60 cents from their highest levels a few months ago — just in time to have an impact on the upcoming elections! Is it just a coincidence?
Comments (6)
no kidding. The other day I saw someone on michigan avenue talking on his 'cyborg-like bluetooth' while driving his segway. I don't know about you, but I can't see myself considring that "normal" anytime soon.
Sep 13, 2006 ; 4:22 PM
Those Segways do make people look odd. Still, there's a part of me that is contrarian and geeky enough to want one of those things. I'd love to ride it to work!
Sep 15, 2006 ; 12:28 AM
Hey Karl, I too have become jaded by the advances in technologies. My computer decided to commit suicide, we went on vacation and when we got back it still took 3 weeks to replace the computer. We were lost! No email, no internet... I actually APOLOGIZED to people that we were computerless! Augh! And forget your cell phone? Unimaginable!!!!!!
Sep 17, 2006 ; 8:27 PM
Are you suggesting that the drop in grass prices would be a political tool used by the Bush administration through the puppetmaster Cheney, he of the Halliburton connection? Karl, I'm SHOCKED!...shocked... that at your young age you would become as cynical as an old hippie baby boomer like your auntie!
Sep 21, 2006 ; 5:26 PM
Hey, hippie! Who mentioned grass prices? I was talking about gas prices. :-)
Sep 22, 2006 ; 10:16 AM
I completely agree. We not only assimilate them, but become 100% reliant on them, to the point that we can't remember how to function without them. Case in point. I am embarrassed to admit that a few months back when our microwave broke and Dylan wanted a hotdog, I actually had to stop and think if I could make him one! I also remember a few years ago Jacob crying because the remote for the TV was lost and he thought it wouldn't work without it ! How pathetic we have become! I can only imagine what 2026 may bring!
Sep 12, 2006 ; 9:42 PM