When the Future Deviates from the Glorious Plan

[james_davis_nicoll]

CBC is running an interview with a segway fan, who is angry over the failure of society to accomodate this revolutionary transport device.

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Sic transit gloria Sinclair C5.

[chance88088.livejournal.com]

So I saw one on the street one day and they guy was an annoying pain in the ass who almost hit some old lady on the sidewalk.

plus, they look stupid.

Ah, that sense of righteous entitlement.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

This fellow on the speaking box seemed to have a lot of rage about how there's no legal place to drive the things, which with them being puny and crunchy on the roads while at the same time being a danger to pedestrians.

Re: Ah, that sense of righteous entitlement.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

I wonder if anybody has done off-road mods? ah, yes. Friend on the radio needs to do himself some googling.



Hm, sorta looks like fun, though not nearly enough to be worth $5000US.

Re: Ah, that sense of righteous entitlement.

[armb.livejournal.com]

Round big warehouses, stockpicking. At least that's the only niche for them I've heard of them working better than a bicycle.
(Actually that's not quite true, there do seem to be a few disabilities where a Segway is worthwhile but vastly cheaper than Kaman's wheelchair using the same tech.)

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

Kinda reminds you of the Cat Piss Men who are furious with NASA for not hiring them for their expansive and obsessive Star Trek trivia knowledge, eh? (I speak from long and extensive experience, I'm sad to say.)

[daev.livejournal.com]

In a way this ties in with our older discussion about how Science is actually done.

Before the Segway was announced there was a lot of hyperactive speculation about what Dean Kamen had secretly invented that would "change the world." Portable nuclear fusion? Matter replication? Cat pee carpet smell remover?

People who think that way still have a Mad Scientist view of how Science works. If something is really going to change the world it'd be already visible beforehand at a collective level, in science or in society. Even Stephen Wolfram admits that his New Kind of Science has been in the air for the last fifty years.

History of bicycles

[p-o-u-n-c-e-r.livejournal.com]

Good excuse to look up bicycling history.

Prior -- a dirt road was fine for a horse. Cobblestones are okay. But cyclists demanded better, smoother, pavement.

Long dresses might work on a horse. Side-saddles and all. But costumes changed, especially for lady cyclists.

"Daisy Daisy" eloping with her lover on a bicycle built for two was more or less a real person. Apparently the pair could go faster than Pa in his horse & gig. (At least over paved roads.)

An infrastructure of gearing, chains, wire spokes and struts etc developed. Nice for the Wright sort of young entrepeneaur.

Bicycles did NOT revolutionize transportation. Cars and airplanes did that. But I think it fair to say the bikes were a -- non-violent evolutionary rather than revolutionary -- path from the horse and locomotive era to the personal point-to-point era.

The name "segway" puns on what they hope for, I think. It's not the future, but the bridge to the future. They hope.

Re: History of bicycles

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Bicycles did NOT revolutionize transportation.

Well, they did for kids, at least in NorAm. Also for people around the world who could not afford cars.

I'm sure I've read a book by an African set in Africa where the very first hint that the outside world was on a collision course with the protagonists was the appearence of a British man on a bicyle.

Re: History of bicycles

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

Reading literature of the period, they were seen as revolutionary. Comparitively affordable, with very low maintenance (compared to horses), they allowed ordinary people to travel further than usual. The sports car of the (late) 19th century.

You can read editorials in small town newspapers deploring the invvention, which allows city-folk to invade their tranquil towns and wreak havoc, then ride off leaving the locals to clean up. Preachers deplored people who went bicycling on their day off (Sunday) instead of going to church.

Re: History of bicycles

[armb.livejournal.com]

Allegedly provided enough travel opportunities to alleviate potential problsms of inbreeding in some small communities....

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

The segwayists do have it slightly harder than the bicyclists. If I understood the interview correctly, some communities have passed laws against segways. Bicycists have to worry about being crushed by inattentive drivers but they don't usually have to worry about a fine.

I assume it's a fine. Jail time for the segway users would be a bit over the top.

Bicyclists do a bit better wrt PR, too. A fictional bicyclist might want to be fit or might want to avoid polluting the environment (See Calvin's dad). A fictional segway user is either the mad scientist in SLUGGY FREELANCE or Gob from that sitcom whose title has just gone completely out of my mind.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Bloody cyclist nearly got me tonight, racing down a side street with no lights or reflectors on his bike. He never saw me until he was almost on me. I had to jump out of his way.

He _had_ a light, actually. It just wasn't on. I wonder what he was up to?