I\u2019m \u201cunlearning\u201d how to drive. My car, and most cars are well into the process of dumbing us down. I don\u2019t drive something exotic like a self-driving vehicle, yet my car is slowly making my driving skills less and less necessary.<\/p>\n
Take the backup camera. It gives me a wide view of what\u2019s behind me, along with markers that tell how close I\u2019m coming to some object. If I keep going, moving closer and closer to the \u201cred\u201d line, it starts a warning beep that would wake up a baby if one were sleeping in the back seat. I don\u2019t have to look in the rearview mirror. I don\u2019t have to look in the side view mirrors. And, best of all, I don\u2019t have to swivel around in the seat and twist my neck to look out the back window. I just stare at the screen on the dash and back away. All my mirror and neck craning skills are ebbing away. <\/p>\n
The same thing is happening with my lane changing skills. My side view mirrors light up if a car is coming along side. Especially, when it enters the blind spot. I don\u2019t have to keep an eye on the traffic behind me, to be aware that someone is coming up on one side or the other. I know the lights on the mirrors will handle that. If I\u2019m not paying attention, and put on my blinker to signal I\u2019m about to change lanes, the side view mirror will yell at me so I won\u2019t crash into the car hidden in my blind spot. My skill at changing lanes is drying up.<\/p>\n
My car doesn\u2019t parallel park for me, but some cars do, more and more every year. It will soon become an unnecessary skill. One that new drivers dread, and the single most reason they fail their driving test. I don\u2019t even have to know how or where to insert a key to get in or start my car. I just carry a magic black object in my pocket. It will unlock the door as my hand touches the handle and will start the car when I push a button on the dash that looks like the doorbell button in my first home. When I pull out of the driveway, the car locks the doors, so nobody will accidentally fall out.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s insidious, how cars, and so many other devices (bread machines, Keurig coffee makers Roomba Robotic vacuum cleaner and the like) are dumbing down the human species. Forget to fasten your seat belt? The car will nag you until you do. It won\u2019t take long until robots in all shapes and sizes completely take over. I\u2019ll have to ask my car if it will take me for a drive in the country and stand in front of the refrigerator holding out a glass, hoping it will let me have a few cubes of ice. No longer in charge!<\/p>\n