SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

"weeEEeee did it!" -passengers in autonomous driving automobile; waymo (husband, son, daughter & me!)

 that's been my light-hearted joke of late,  'we're still a little bit amish'   -and i find myself saying it more and more frequently; especially when/if it gets a laugh.

the most recent time i said it, my husband and i were having our boarding passes scanned at the airport; we were the only ones with paper boarding passes; the only ones not using our phones

as i handed the kind checker-in person my paper, i said with a smile, 

we're practically amish arent we.

and before that, i had a conversation with my son..  there's going to be a new colony of amish that result from this driverless car era..

the people who dare and move on..   and the people, like me, who want to remain in the driver seat.

****

i know very little about amish people, their customs, ways, history..   i only use it to describe..

well, from what i do know, they still use horses/carriages for transportation.   that might seem absurd at first..  but, if i were to place a few pictures here, of miles and miles of parked traffic, car accidents, receipts from gas stations, smog checks, car repairs.. license/registration fees..  people driving around for hours and hours trying to find a parking spot...

i see both sides.  i still would not want to clean up accumulated horse poop..  would not want to live without shelter, windshield wipers, AC/Heat, radio, a cup holder...  automatic windows..   5-75mph options, when the road is clear;   but, i respect their way of life; for them..    i would never insist on changing it.  -i am only borrowing it, if you will, to make a point

initially, before i learned about the religious history, i just thought..   the world is moving at a rapid pace  -or rather, the rotations of the earth might not be speeding up, but the technology, our ways of life, as humans beings  -the speed at which it is all introduced and employed

and obsolete with newer, faster, better technology introduced monthly  weekly   daily    hourly;

that speed.. is  -faster than some of us are comfortable with. faster than our ability to understand and acclimate.  so, in my imagination, i pictured everyone, in the early 1900's say,  -acclimating and moving together at an agreed upon pace, and then cars were introduced

and that's when a small percentage of the population said,  that's okay. you go on ahead...  we'll stay here.  -and they just hopped off the conveyor belt of life.  people who embraced cars, started driving..  forward; into the future.

those who did not, hopped off the belt, hopped back on their horses and still ride around..   & around in the early 1900's even today. 

   -it is in that context, that i use the word/term am-ish.

so, if life is more conveyor belt, than circle:  i was quite ready to jump off myself the first time i heard about driverless cars.   you go on ahead..  i'll hop off here.. in 2025..  stay in the driver seat.   -send a post card from mars when you get there, okay..

i still want to have paper and stamps and letters and post cards.. and united states postal service; can we keep those?  like, if i do start a new amish community, 

we will remain in the driver seat of our automobiles and people in the near future will marvel at how we still pen our own love letters and write our own poetry  -on paper!   but!

we keep amazon.   every amish community embraces a percentage of the modern conveniences, is my understanding.  Good God, i still can't believe how i can press a button and have products delivered to my front porch!

anyway, 

i have felt..   much like i'm riding a scooter.  this is the best analogy.  one foot rested and riding effortlessly, in perfect harmony with the speed of life and technology

the other foot pumping, pumping, doing all the work...    wanting to stay grounded.   one foot in 2025; one foot in 2000...   working to help me catch up

but!

happy to report, that i had a recent experience in which i felt quite like,  as if, 

 -there are those stretches, when you are riding a scooter, that you pump, pump.. push, push, and with enough momentum achieved  -you can place both feet in resting position and just glide effortlessly for a while..

and that is exactly what it  -later-  felt like, after having my first and currently only experience as a passenger in a

autonomous driving vehicle.    -confess to struggling here with a vocabulary that works for me..

'self' driving doesnt work..  a car is not a 'self'   -i reserve that for humans.

driverless, kinda works..    i mean, 

"My God! this is the most bizarre thing i have ever done!!"    -my reaction to watching the steering wheel move, but no one in the driver seat moving it.

literally looks as if a ghost!   -it is the strangest, strangest..    it is just undoing what i have been seeing and experiencing for nearly 60 years!

crazy.

but, also report, it never felt like an invisible robot was driving.. it did not at all feel robotic.  it really did feel as if a human being was doing the driving..  felt like a very safe, good human being driver was driving..

the subtle adjustments, turns, accelerations, slowing down... negotiating space and obstacles; honoring the rules of the road..  highly nuanced

i'm still processing the experience even as i write this..

mostly with enormous gratitude.  a first! even at 59 years old...   and more importantly, a first  -shared with my husband, son and daughter..     a wonderful experience/memory together..   not likely to forget.

my daughter had already acclimated..  i admire that; very proud of her!     -it was a first for the rest of us.

and, as it was a first time,  -we only went about 3 blocks...     -but i would be comfortable going 5..

i would do it again.   everyone would was the consensus... 

i'm seeing some great benefits..     amazing potential...

and thank here also, cleo abrams..   i believe watching her youtube/podcast where she introduced her audience to autonomous driving vehicles in san francisco helped ready me..    that, and my BMF, carla and her husband russ, who were the first friends to share video they had experienced this..  passengers in an autonomous driving vehicle.. in Arizona, i believe.   brave. 

writing a scooter on the conveyor belt of life...     working to keep up...   -for 3 blocks, all of me was in the 21st century

"weeeeeeee did it!"    -#waymo, austin texas.

all of this is a "Thank You!" prayer..      hallelujah & amen

posted by SANDRA MICKANEN @ 4:06 PM