Do you want to know what is really soul sucking?
A few months ago I went to my doctor’s office for some minor thing, and when I came out I noticed the same older gentleman waiting in th lobby as when I had arrived may 30 minutes before. It turns out he has been waiting over an hour for a cab to arrive to take him about 1/2 mile to a prosthetic showroom for his artificial leg. He needs the cab because he can no longer drive.
I was in no hurry, so I drove him over to his destination. The point is not to signal my great virtue in giving an old man a ride, but to point out that, as we drove over, I kept thinking that I sure hope they hurry up with those self-driving cars so I can buy one before I get old enough to not be able to drive for myself.
The real soul suck comes when one can’t get around on his own any longer and has to take cabs, or an Uber, and waste a huge amount of time waiting in mind-numbing places.
No one is going to take your little deuce coupe away from you when self driving becomes available. But it is going to mean freedom for a lot of people. And we are no longer going to have to take granny’s keys when she becomes a danger — just get her a car that doesn’t require her to be a road hazard every time she goes to bingo.
No one is going to take your little deuce coupe away from you when self driving becomes available. But it is going to mean freedom for a lot of people. And we are no longer going to have to take granny’s keys when she becomes a danger — just get her a car that doesn’t require her to be a road hazard every time she goes to bingo.
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Thanks for making a great point in contrast to the bitchy curmudgeons.
My mom had breast cancer and was treated at a local cancer center. I took her there for 6 years. I always saw some older people in the waiting room waiting for rides from the cancer bus. Sometimes if I had time I’d take them where they needed to go, if it wasn’t that far. I hated to see them just sitting there.
“No one is going to take your little deuce coupe away from you when self driving becomes available.”
Not at first, but yes; eventually they will make it illegal.
Big brother starts out just offering “safer options” and “environmentally friendly solutions”.
Next, they let you choose, but if you choose wrong, your insurance rates are higher and you don’t qualify for a tax credit. They use taxpayer money to raise “social awareness”, i.e., create a social stigma for the nonconforming behavior.
Finally, they just make it outright illegal.
The left will eventually take away your rights as sure as the sunrise.
For a while, they pushed latex paint vs. oil based as an option, then they used manufacturing regulations and work permit restrictions to drive the price of using oil paint up. Now, it’s almost impossible to get the oil based - the private citizen never got to choose.
People used to be able to rent out rooms or operate a business out of their home, plant a tree or vegetable garden, raise chickens, hunt, whatever - do as they pleased, within reason. Now everything needs to be approved, regulated, restricted, licensed, etc., and many things are prohibited - they’ve gone the way of the dodo bird.
They will eventually do the same with guns, cars, beef, you name it.
They get 2/3 of the people conform just by offering incentives - the remaining 1/3 needs to be fined and punished.
And many people are just fine with big brother making their decisions for them. Like you with the self driving car - you look at the silver lining, like being able to get around when you’re too old to drive.
That’s fine, technology and innovation can be wonderful - just beware the tyranny of the majority - don’t let them take away your right to choose - as they will certainly try to do.
People try to control each other - it’s human nature - we have to guard against it - that’s what being conservative is all about.
“I sure hope they hurry up with those self-driving cars so I can buy one before I get old enough to not be able to drive for myself.”
My opinion exactly. They would be “soul sucking” in an aesthetic way, but if they could provide a large measure of independence to us golden agers, that would be wonderful.