JG came home from shopping in our local town yesterday quite
bemused as well as amused. I appears that he was chatting with his daughter on
his (hands free) mobile as he drove along the highway coming home. The daughter
was also on her mobile in her car and, get this, driving the Autobahn in
Germany. JG said that the connection was crystal clear (we are only a little
over 100 years from ‘crystal’ wireless sets).
Every time I think about this, I
giggle a bit. How technology changes and changes us.
My grandmother saw the change from horse and buggy to automobile. She lived in
one of, I think, nine households on a party telephone line that crackled and
hissed. She did not drive a car nor expect to do so.
In my residence at university there was one telephone
in a common room on each floor. I thought it the height of decadence that my
daughters had their own phones in their residence rooms. Not so, and the height
of decadence has become my grandkid chatting with her parents on her mobile as
she walks the streets around her university. And now this.
The daughter in
question just got her new car, and says it talks to her. It wants her to have
two hands on the wheel and stay in the centre of her lane. And tells her so, or
at least will do so until she figures out how to turn this fine feature off. She
says it sounds like her father. I wish I had my grandmother here to tell about
this. Can’t you just picture her incredulous face?
Our grandparents would be amazed. I look at our grandchildren and wonder what they will take for granted when they are our age!
ReplyDeleteEven more so, what will astonish them.
Delete"JG came home from shopping in our local town yesterday quite bemused as well as amused."
ReplyDeleteThis sentence made me smile. Someone who understands the meaning of bemused! I'm not young, and I spent my working years as an editor, but until recently I've been using "bemused" wrong. So now when I see someone using it properly it stands out to me.
Thanks. I love words.
DeleteMy great-grandmother would say, "The man who thought of that, his head must have burst!"
ReplyDeleteMy Prius Prime gives me a grade on my driving when I first put it in Park, and then tells me what I did well and what I must do to improve. Often, the comments contradict each other. This leads me to believe that it's entirely random, so I stopped caring what my score was. Instead I swear at it and tell it I'll drive how I wish, thank you very much.
Katie drives a Prius Prime as well. It converses with her phone. I would end up walking. And yes, it is more than annoying when the car tells you what to do. All wheel drive on my car comes to mind. I used to be able to put the vehicle into 4 wheel drive. Now, with this car, it decides.
Delete