Chilidogs and Potholes

Next time you see someone bragging(!) about the fact their car parallel parks itself, remeber this Jay Leno essay:

I watched an SUV in front of me drift out of its lane, off the road and down an embankment. I stopped, ran to it and saw two young women inside, apparently okay. There was music blaring and something was on the navigation screen. This happened on a straight road, on a sunny day, without much traffic. And I thought how much safer I was, driving in my 50-year-old Jaguar XK120--with no side windows, no radio, no distractions--than these women were in their new truck with its ABS, airbags and other modern tech.

Why? Because I was paying attention.

Rather than teach people how to drive well, we override their need for skills. How far are we from cars that drive themselves? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want that car. Shouldn’t we be responsible for doing some things ourselves?

Automatic cameras, automatic cooking, automatic transmissions, hundreds of books 'For Dummies;' won't be long before humans are completely void of skills.