Yesterday, I was thinking about banks.......

I think that soon I will gather my thoughts about banks, and how we've managed to evolve from "If I couldn't manage my bank any better than to have to charge my customers a service charge, I'd get out of the business", to Government bailouts. I have no answers for this, but it's on my mind, and I'm trying to give it some serious thought.

Instead, today, I'm going back many years to my working life, and posting an old, old, doorhanger, which, I think, holds just as valid today, almost eleven years later, only perhaps, more so.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

10/16/98

Last week Richard was raving excitedly about a new pickup he had looked at. It apparently has all kinds of sensory devices. One of the new safety features is that if any of the cylinders start to overheat, those cylinders will be shut down, and will coast while the rest of the cylinders do the work. I think this means that if your car overheats, you just keep on going. The car will restart the hot cylinders after they have cooled down.

My thirteen year old pickup doesn’t have anything like this. As Victor and Steve can attest, I have called in a few times when I didn’t quite make it and needed a ride (or a tow). They can probably remember more times than I can. I never leave my house, however, expecting something to go wrong.

It’s hard for me to imagine that it would be desirable to have a car that knows something will go wrong, and will take care of its own problems. I wonder what happens if something goes wrong with one of the gadgets which is supposed to protect you if something goes wrong?

I keep thinking that if something goes wrong with a car, you should have it fixed (someday). What happens if all those gadgets that keep the car running prevent you from knowing that there is anything wrong? You have lost control, and are at the mercy of the car and its gadgets.

Do you suppose that a manual transmission is even available on one of these wonderful machines, or have they decided that the driver should be taken out of the loop altogether?



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