"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

Today's pondering...
August 22, 2009 - 11:15 am

Don't get me wrong, advances in science and technology can be good.. it's just people have a way of overlooking serious unintended side effects of these improvements.

Take... GPS. I've little doubt that as hybrids and other alternative fueled cars become more and more popular... you can't rely on the gas tax to fund road work. Either you end up raising the tax so a gallon is $10 -- which really means people didn't save anything gas-wise by switching to a hybrid and/or people who can't afford switching to a hybrid are paying a much, much larger part of the road work.

How to fix this?

Well, put a GPS on every car and let it record how many miles you drive. Perhaps another way to look at is is make the odometer report your mileage on a monthly/yearly basis and you have to pay a tax per mile driven.

People will, at first, shit over this idea. However, it's pretty darn fair. Those who drive the most, pay the most -- they are using the roads the most so putting more wear on the road.. and should pay a higher amount. Pretty much like an income tax -- the more you make (drive) the more you pay.

However, if they do go with GPS.. that data would need to be stored some place -- some federal entity, right? How else to levee the tax? It would also mean that agency knows every place you went and how long you were there.. and how fast you went.

Speeding tickets just got a lot easier to hand out.

This really isn't all that far fetched. I see delivery vans with GPS's on the now so the company knows where the vans are at all times. I imagine it really helps identifying who can pick up a rush request.

Mix in on-star.. and well, is it too much of a stretch to think that on-star could also be tracking where you drive? It's always connected via satellite.

Wouldn't insurance companies be delighted to know which drivers are really save ones -- which speed the least and which speed the most? Which blow through stop signs... and how much you really truly drive each year?

In large part, I'm quite fine with the idea of automatic speeding tickets -- though I know the world will be in arms about it. I also think the speed limits need changes, but that's a whole other topic.

As for insurance companies.. no doubt it would start as a voluntary thing. Give us access to your info and we'll give you a discount. No access, automatic higher rate. Soon enough... everyone will give access or they will stop accepting applications from people who don't.

All in all.. I think it would make driving safer. People act better when big brother is watching. Sad, but true. Teenagers especially will be impacted. I can recall more than one stupid event like passing cars on two lane roads and a desire to see just how fast my car would go -- did windows open or closed make a difference?

In some ways, I'm lucky I'm still alive... How many teenagers aren't alive due to just be immature and silly.. just trying to have some fun and driving way to fucking fast...?

Anyway. What got me thinking along these line is an article I just skimmed where a clinic is offering parents the chance to pick the gender of their child.

This.. path scares the shit out of me. It does. Gender is, I suppose, innocent enough -- if both parents really want a boy or girl.. it's good for that family, isn't it? How many kids/families have dealt with issues because the baby turned out to be the wrong gender?

My fear.. is what's next? Can you pick eye color? Hair? Height? Some sort of influence on athletic skill or mental ability?

No doubt athletic skill and mental ability are more fuzzy than gender -- as less sure thing to ensure.. but you clearly get on the path of engineering your offspring. Isn't this the plot of countless sci-fi stories?

Would the premium services only be available to those with financial means?

What about simply trying to weed out genetic disorders? Surely that's a worthy cause.. and it's a moral conundrum as well. In some cases, it's the persons 'defect' that leads them to be great. Cure mental illness -- as in remove it from people in the womb... and how many famous artists would we lose? A fine line exists between genius and insanity.

Would Stephen Hawking be the same thinker he is today if his malady was 'fixed' before birth?

Countless ethical questions abound when you start to tinker with genetics and life.

Is it really in humanity's best interest to take control of what our offspring will be? Is it really, long-term, a good thing to have various people predisposed to be good one thing or another... or is it just reverting back to a class-based society?