Cars and I have never been the best of friends. The first time I took the driver’s test, I failed. I took the test in my father’s ill-maintained 1958 straight shift Ford with a steering wheel so huge that when I changed gears, my head dropped below the top of the steering wheel. To make matters worse, I somehow managed to kill the engine when demonstrating how to park. Cars and I have continued to have issues, including this August, when a series of unfortunate events forced us to buy me a new car. As a great-aunt of mine once said after a similar incident involving a New York City cab driver and her car, “We aren’t admitting guilt, but to expedite matters, we paid.” In self-defense, I have depth perception issues due to a lazy eye, and my most current car misadventure was really just a fender-bender, but due to the age of my car, it was declared totaled.
Living in the country with a husband who constantly uses his truck, I needed a car rather quickly, so off we went to the Toyota dealership, where husband Dan spotted a spiffy white car with black accessories and an eye-popping red leather interior. Goodness. As requested by fresh from a wreck me, the car was loaded with every safety feature available.
When it was time to leave the dealership, Dan insisted I drive the car home. As someone who has driven only a 2014 car for several years, I knew I was in for some surprises. When I left the dealership, it was drizzling rain and almost dark outside. Soon after I pulled onto the interstate, an 18-wheeler appeared. I gave the large vehicle my usual wide berth, but as I turned the wheel, the car seemed to resist, and I felt a pull back into the lines delineating my lane. I mentally chalked it up to possible post-wreck PTSD and was taking a deep breath when I noticed strange things flashing across the windshield. As a lifelong sufferer of migraines that begin with vision distortion, I tried not to panic. Fortunately, I made it home safely.
The car came with a thick owner’s manual; a manual I abandoned early on when I began channeling the famous educator John Dewey’s advice to “learn by doing.” I learned that the car says impertinent things such as “Driver Inattention” and “Sit Up”. I learned that if one doesn’t heed the car’s warnings, the horn will blow and if the car foresees imminent danger, it will brake hard and stop. Completely.
Remember the 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey? The on-board computer named Hal has killed all the spaceship’s crew except for Dave. Dave leaves the ship to retrieve a shipmate’s body, and when Dave tells Hal to open the pod bay, a dying Hal says, “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Hal shuts down, and Dave is left to die in space. The movie was frightening in the 1960s and, in today’s world, feels even more so.
When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, just like today, that new technology was frightening. When in fear, a librarian researches, and on January 22, 2024, the firm Quocirca published an article titled “The Gutenberg Revolution: How the printing press shaped humanity and what it means for AI” here. It is a lengthy article, but well worth the read, as it discusses how the printing press and AI both began an information revolution; how both machines can publish both misleading and important information. The article ends with recommending that cautious, diligent foresight be required as we face this new era. The World Economic Forum, along with many think tanks, agrees.
As a cousin of mine sometimes asks, “So what’s the lesson here kids?” Safety? Diligence? Acceptance? All three? Yes. Yes. Yes. A new era is upon us, new talking cars are upon us, and I fervently hope this era will aid us all. When I taught school and Fridays would roll around, I would dismiss my high school students with the words: “Be Safe. Be Careful. Make good choices.” I don’t want to face another series of unfortunate events, events caused by car accidents or events caused by the world’s technology, so I plan to follow my advice. Drive with care, Google with caution, and as my mama used to say, “Y’all be careful out there….hear?
Cindy Arp, teacher/librarian, retired from Knox County Schools. She and husband Dan live in Heiskell.
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