WHAT?!
Can I do this? Is this a legitimate option? I'm supposed to be blogging about video games, yes I know, but every day life becomes more like a video game, and every day video games try to become more like real life, so why can't I talk about a real life concept once or twice? Maybe I should do a third blog, but I'm not going to...not for now anyway.
What I wanted to mention, ever so briefly, in the way that a social media post would technically suffice, is that today, at work, I received an email regarding (potentially) an idea I've only ever really heard of in books, although it seems very much plausible...doesn't everything eventually? What was it? Platooning vehicles.
Now, technically, I've not even received confirmation from my contact that this is in fact what the email was about, I'm just typing up a post based on the concept that's now rattling around in my brain. The same concept I just got done harassing my editor about until he finally gave me the email back and told me to contact the guy because he was busy (I think in reality he just wanted me to stop bugging him). But allow me to explain:
I first encountered the idea of platooning vehicles in Sigmund Brouwer's The Mars Diaries (yes, at this point I should start a blog and call it My Library, shutup) at the point that the characters travel to Earth. They wind up in the back of an eighteen wheeler being guided by magnetic rails in the road. The driver actually climbs into the back of the truck with the kids and takes a nap or something. Now this isn't far-fetched for science fiction by any means, it always happens, in everything. Cars drive themselves, jets fly themselves, so on and so forth, but, this appears to be a real thing, starting in the 60s at Ohio State University (or earlier, but that's the earliest source I see) it's been researched on and off, mostly off. The idea lost funding in the 80s, and has since be revived in different facets.
What's notable about this is, it's not just easier on literally everyone, it's also more efficient than just driving yourself. I mean, Cars move in groups and accelerate in unison, brake in unison and navigate obstacles in unison (okay, maybe not unexpected obstacles, but like...roadblocks and stuff I assume they can maneuver around) while relying on magnetic feedback, not user input. What's so special about that? They move closer together, reducing drag, reducing fuel exhaustion, reducing tire wear, reducing break wear, I mean come on, what's bad about this? Sure, you might argue that automated movement of this nature "fundamentally denies our human rights to freedom of..." what, action? Privacy? In reality, this wouldn't really impede much. Your car could be pulled from a platoon automatically by police or whatever, sure, but then again, they can already do that, the only freedom you have in that situation is the freedom to commit a crime...if you want to argue that- whoa, tangents, sorry. Anyway, yeah, you lose a slight amount of freedom, but it's not like it's even a freedom you notice normally. How often do you drive down the street and say "Man, I'm glad that cop didn't pull me over for suspicious activity?" Be careful how you answer that.
What I'm trying to say is...OH MY GOD AUTO HIGHWAYS YAAAAAASSSSS!!!!!
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