The Google Car and Modern Times…

October 26, 2012
Walking in the same direction in Travels in Transmedia

THE ICONIC ENDING OF MODERN TIMES WHERE CHARLIE CHAPLIN AND PAULETTE GODARD LOOK IN THE SAME DIRECTION….

When California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law on September 27, 2012  allowing Google to test drive it’s driverless Google car, I thought the announcement would get more buzz.  It seems to me a massive milestone for culture — as seminal as the first car.  For me, the Google car always seemed like a far-out Jetsons fantasy, but according to Reward Play reviews, the future is clearly upon us. Born out of a perfect storm of the rising power of mapping, thanks to Google and the advancements made in gaming,  the driverless Google car should be fully active and on the roads within 5 years, although I believe it will happen faster.

Sherry Turkle

Sherry Turkle, Director of MIT’s Center on Technology and Self

Interestingly, the car has  long been one of the most intimate spaces for family or friend conversations. I cannot count the transformational conversations between Dads and sons, husbands and wives, Mothers and daughters, boys and girls  that have taken place   in the front seat of a car.

What did Antoine de Saint Exupéry , author the The Little Prince say?   “Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.

There is just something incredibly liberating about sitting in a car, talking, letting the words flow freely while looking out at the horizon together. It can be romantic, revealing, touching, comedic.

Movies have always shown an ending in which two people are walking together on an open road, probably most notably in Charlie Chaplin‘s Modern Times

In her cautionary tale about Technology, Alone Together, Sherry Turkle, the Director of MIT’s Center for Technology and Self, says the number one inciting incident for turning kids off to their parents is  an”unsatisfactory” car pick up or drop off of a child.  What is the disatisfaction? The parent is on the phone, ignoring the child. And the child wants to bond, to connect with Mom or Dad.  According to the research, Turkle says that the child turns off at that moment, and begins to mimic the parent.  They want their own phone, their own isolating world away from actual conversation. And the rift begins. Technology has interrupted their intimacy.

Pundits say that with the adoption of the Google car will end drivers licenses. What will we be doing in those driverless spaces? Will  we be talking to one another?  Or will we be preoccupied with the technology that rests in our hands, and builds the walls towards our aloneness?

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2 responses to The Google Car and Modern Times…

  1. Profound combination of concepts here. Cars, internet, movies, mapping, gaming, phones, parenting. True transmedia.

    I’m so glad that all of my children were old enough before the onset of airbags banished young kids to the back seat. They were always in the front seat right next to me. “Safety” has a high cost.

    Let me just say in conclusion that (IMHO) “Modern Times” is the Best.Movie.Ever.