When I think about the automation on almost every level of our
daily lives, I’m awed and dumbfounded at the same time.
The thing that brought it to my mind was a simple transaction
in the lady’s room. As I rounded the corner to toss a
piece of trash, the paper towel dispenser automatically sensed
my presence and rolled out a fresh towel. As I went to wash
my hands, the warm water automatically turned on. This is only
a small example of the things that we take for granted.
We click on our key fobs and open the car doors, gain speed on
take off and the doors automatically lock. This is only the tip
of the iceberg in the automotive department. The seat belts come
across our chests and buckle themselves, the climate is automatically
controlled, and the latest news is that computers will be installed
in our dashboards. These will be accessible from the driver’s
seat and will have enough memory to run a Power Point presentation.
The first models will be introduced in the Ford F series trucks.
It is a dealer add-on and costs about $3500.
I know that you’ve got the visual of the red neck “Bubba” driving
down the road with his computer listening to tunes on his computer
and using the navigation feature. He’s playing video games
and dodging in and out of traffic or zooming around mountain roads.
Why, you might ask are they not installing it in the Lincoln, or
why doesn’t BMW jump on this technology for the “obviously
superior” yuppie? I can’t answer that question. Maybe “Bubba” has
arrived in the age of technology.
Our assumptions of who drives which vehicle, who has advanced technology,
and who can afford the best is often way out of perspective. For
example, we see the guy working on a front-end loader or hauling
one with his F series truck and fail to equate the image with a
college educated entrepreneur. The equipment alone probably cost
in excess of a hundred thousand dollars and yet the world at large
sees the guy in the flannel shirt as an uneducated, poor red neck.
Likely he owns the hauling and grading company and may far out
earn his neighbor who drives the Bimmer.
If this were a situation of us viewing a black male wearing a FUBU
designer outfit and large rhinestone ear-rings driving a Lincoln
Navigator, would we automatically assume that he is a drug dealer?
He might just be the doctor who lives up the street. What about
other races and nationalities?
The technological race is on. Computers that run on a battery with
a hand crank charger are being developed for under-developed countries.
We cannot afford to think that anyone these days is exempt from
technology or automation or education. After all haven’t
you always heard that assume = ass u & me?
