Take the Wheel, Somebody

Not my typical blog post, but one that does indeed have a lot to do with technology advances, and one that will affect many of you out there, although I doubt I'll be around to see it. However, this is about driverless cars, and this is something that is happening right now, so people get ready and enjoy this article from, of all places, The National Review. I enjoyed it top to bottom.

By Jonah Goldberg

"There’s a great scene in the movie The Right Stuff where the original Mercury astronauts are checking out the capsule for their first trips to space. They’re horrified to discover that the German scientists in charge of the program see the astronauts as nothing more than living props.

There is no window, the scientists explain. There’s no emergency hatch or even controls for the astronauts to use. It’s all automated. “We want a window,” the astronauts demand.

The white-frocked experts reluctantly agree to give the astronauts a window and piloting controls because they know the American people would hate to see the nation’s greatest pilots treated like lab monkeys with no say in their fate.

I can’t help but wonder whether in 20 years the American people will have the right stuff to demand a steering wheel in their cars."

Take the Wheel, Somebody