Surrendering to the Digital Age

I’m currently reading Kevin Kelly’s book The Inevitable. He starts off by describing how our human instinct is to ‘push back’ when introduced to new and extreme technology. He goes on to express how we should surrender to technology. Rather than resisting it, we should embrace it. I thought this was a great way to start off the book. I personally find myself resisting new technology, even if I try not to. I think there is something about being in control that we, as humans, do not want to give up.

Earlier this year the talk of self-driving cars was all the rage. We were told that companies like Tesla, Google, and Uber were in the arms race to introduce the first models. I distinctly remember news sources saying that we should get used to the idea of self-driving cars because they will be introduced by 2020…. only four years from now. That seemed crazy to me. I wasn’t ready to hand over my keys to my steering wheel. I spoke to many people about this, just curious of their opinions about the technology. From my conversations, I found that most people felt the same way as me. We like driving; the freedom of the open road allows us to feel like explorers.

As I started to hear more about the topic I was more open to the idea. It would be nice to be able to read a book, send some emails, or just enjoy the scenery rather than focusing on the road. Although I wouldn’t want to totally hand over the keys and trust the technology just yet, I felt like I would need some sort of training wheels before the full experience.

The training wheels have arrived! Uber just released their first self-driving cars this week. It sounds like they are still working out a number of kinks such as driving over bridges, approaching cars with their hazard lights on, and reverting to manual mode while driving. Uber will keep drivers behind the wheel until they work out the kinks. They are currently offering the rides for free, which I think is a great way to get people to accept and try the technology. If the option was available in my town I would give it a try!

The self-driving car is a great example of embracing new technology. Go out and give it a test ride!