A Machine Shall Lead Them

As incredible as the things that technology can do for us are, I don't think that it can do anything more impressive than consistently convince us that it can do more than it can. I understand that in the judicial system they now have trouble with juries weaned on years of criminal forensics shows which show lab technicians regularly performing miracles in garnering clues from the scene. Evidently it's a real problem, and that's not the only one.

People rely heavily on GPS-powered navigational programs. I do so as much as anyone, as it is a great help even on public transportation and sometimes on foot. Now, you can generally trust the directions given for driving or for public transit, but beware of what it tells you to do when walking. There's a very good reason why Google Maps maintains that its walking directions are in 'Beta Mode'. They just can't say very easily what route to take that way. It's partly that determining the quickest route is so tricky, and partly that plotting a course which it's safe to walk is so hard.

The other day, I was trying to get to a concert. The thing brought me within a fraction of a mile via a bus. Unfortunately, it put me on the wrong side of a freeway. Anyplace else, I could get across and to the venue on foot. At this particular place in LA's Cahuenga Pass, that is not so. There's the freeway, and there what calls itself a boulevard adjacent. Google say I should walk along the boulevard, which makes sense to a machine, but not a human who can see that the 'boulevard' is a freeway itself in all but name, and with no sidewalk or bicycle path to walk on.

What's frightening is how long I tried to go with it just because that's what it told me and because I was beginning to run late. There I was, bushwacking through the overgrowth on the hillside abutting the road just to stay out of traffic. It was really ridiculous, and I'm glad I realized that at all and resigned myself to maybe being late and taking a circuitous route in the name of staying alive and subjecting my clothes to no further damage. Happily, I eventually managed and took in an enjoyable concert, but remained shaken at how I had bended to the will of a navigational program.