Between the twin poles of family vacation and intensive business planning, late summer isn’t the best season for me to keep up with writing a blog. But one of my favorite Sunday activities–reading The New York Times–is getting me back into the swing today. Today’s issue features two stories that, when taken together, predict something unfortunate about the Anywhere revolution.
Randall Stross’s Digital Domain column today worries over the introduction of Mobile Wi-Fi into cars, based on a demo he was given by Chrysler. Even though their technology is intended for passengers only, Stross reasons that drivers will also be tempted to use it, dramatically increasing the risk of accidents from what one source in the article terms “distracted driving.” From the looks of it, he appeared to become so preoccupied with the risks that he hardly was able to review the technology demo he got. Talk about not being able to pay attention.
I went out for a run ruminating over two contradictory reactions I had to his story. First, that Stross is right to be concerned. I can hardly remember how, before I quit smoking, I managed to drive a stick-shift and light a cigarette at the same time, to say nothing of talking on the phone. But my second reaction was that the eventual use of wireless data in the car by all its occupants, driver included, is inevitable. And if both those are right, the future sadly holds news stories about auto accidents caused by on-line drivers, and catch-up legislation to try to get the automotive wireless genie back into the bottle.
My mind wandered to another NYT article today–Amy Harmon’s engrossing long-form piece highlighting one science teacher’s struggles to teach evolution to evangelical Christian students at a Florida high school.
From there I recalled a tour I’d taken more than 20 years ago of one of the aerospace industry’s first flight simulators. The guide had shown me all the heads-up displays in the cockpit, which even then were pervasive, and happened to explain how they first tested would-be fighter pilots to find those candidates best at managing the onslaught of information coming at them from the cockpit, their radio headsets, and the world outside the aircraft itself, all the while staying calm and focused.
In evolutionary terms, those pilots would be more likely to survive, and then procreate, than the ones who couldn’t handle data coming at them from many sources all at once.
What’s happening to us–or more precisely, our kids–is the natural selection of those who can do just that. Watch TV, check the stats online, and tweet on our cellphones at once… we already know we’re raising a generation of multi-taskers. It’s the evolution of the human who can and will do anything, anywhere. Car crashes, sadly, will be part of the selection process.