This Malay Mail of 26 June 2020 about a motorist who claimed that he ended up driving in the motorcycle lane beside the Federal Highway because he had followed the guidance of his Waze navigation app which was set to Motorcycle mode.
I too use Waze for guidance, especially in unfamiliar areas, but I would not have followed its guidance and driven into a motorcycle lane, and if I inadvertently did, I would have immediately stopped, turned on my hazard lights and tried to back out. Looking at that picture above, that 4x4 off-road vehicle could have easily been driven out of the motorcycle lane across that narrow grass verge back onto the main road.
If this is true, it only goes to show how our reliance on information and communications technology (ICT) tools to guide our actions has resulted in us becoming like robots which will jump off a cliff to their destruction if programmed to do so. For instance, cruise missiles are robots which will seek to destroy the enemy along with themselves in kamikaze-fashion. They just do what they are programmed to do, whatever the consequences to them.
About 10 or so years ago, I used to do product reviews of dedicated GPS navigation devices which necessitated me doing practical field trials of these devices in my car and in one instance it directed me to turn left and drive across an open monsoon drain, which would have resulted in my car getting stuck in the monsoon drain or worse plunging down onto the road on the left which was below the level where I was. In another instance it directed me to turn right, which would have resulted in me having to drive across a road divider, but I used my brain and ignored the guidance which would have otherwise led to disaster.
Hmmm! I wonder what would have happened to me if I was riding in a self-driving car.
Welcome to the information and services society where people use their brains less and less until they become like robots doing what they are programmed to do, with any decision making - i.e. artificial intelligence, however seemingly "independent" or "autonomous", in reality is being limited to decide within the scope defined by the human programmer - i.e. no thinking outside of the box and then our Ministry of Education and education professionals will wonder why Malaysian students don't think outside the box and education CON-sultants will propose courses to teach our students to think outside the box, only for them to be constrained by scripts and flowcharts which constrain them to think within boxes in real life after they leave school.
This reminds me of a direct sales agent telling me about one of her fellow direct sales agents who sold herbal slimming tablets (basically a herbal laxative) to her customers who indeed lost weight but felt weak and went back to the seller who told the customer to buy vitamin and mineral tablets to make up for the loss of vitamins and minerals which were being purged out by the laxative. So spend money on herbal laxative tablets only to spend more money on herbal supplement tablets.
ICT is making us dumber and dumber, and after "Baby Boomer", "Generation X", "Generation Y", "Generation Z", "Millennials", "Generation Whatever", we'll have Generation I (Generation Idiot).
BTW. I don't believe these age group classifications have the same characteristics worldwide but differ subject to the different material (objective) and subjective circumstances at different places and at different times. For instance, the objective and subjective circumstances in Malaysia back in the 1960s and early 1970s did not give rise to a countercultural movement in Malaysia, such as the hippies in the west which back then was at the height of its post World War II long economic boom, even though many youth of my generation ("Baby Boomer") in Malaysia emulated the outward manifestations of our youth counterparts in the west such as their taste in music, casual dress and hairstyles (usually long) - i.e. uniformity in non-conformity, but that is where the similarity ends. Also, let's not forget that behind such seeming "cultural revolution" are commercial interests out to promote sales of all the accessories, products and merchandise involved, including the narcotics. It's BIG BUSINESS after all ma-h-an!
I see similar robotic behaviour of strictly following an if-then-else script in call centre agents who cold call me to try to convince me to accept their proposed personal loan, which I don't need. and end up enriching the bank with my payments of the interest in addition to my reimbursing the loan amount. After all, banks get rich by milking people like us for the interest - this is the nature of finance capitalism which Vladimir Lenin and others spoke and wrote about - i.e. finance capitalism is parasitic and is based upon getting people, companies and countries into debt and then milk them on the interest.
I often end up losing my cool and screaming at the call centre agent who cannot accept my polite "no", "not interested" reply and instead twist and turn as if according to script to try and get around my polite refusal. Then one day I remember my former colleague Bernard Yeoh's advice and just put my phone face-down on the table and carried on doing what I was doing. Apparently, that call to my phone was active for a long time, as my phone's battery was a;most flat, which must have cost that call centre much money. Thanks, Bernard. Good advice to deal with these pesky sales calls without losing my cool.
When I see so many of our younger generation going around with their faces buried in their smartphones' screens, I see a bleak future for them, when already there are so many fresh university graduates in Malaysia and in the advanced countries having no choice but to accept gig-economy and zero-hour information and services jobs - i.e. check smartphone app for food delivery assignment (the information part) and deliver the food ordered to the customer (the services part) and get paid per delivery with no job security or medical benefits if they are involved in an accident on the job.
For instance celebrity progressive, left-wing, U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez graduated cum laude from Boston University College of Arts and Sciences with a BA in 2011, majoring in international relations and economics. Earlier in high school Ocassio-Cortez came in second in the Microbiology category of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair with a microbiology research project on the effect of antioxidants on the lifespan of the nematode C. elegans, and in recognition of her efforts, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory named a small asteroid after her: 23238 Ocasio-Cortez.
After college, Ocasio-Cortez moved back to the Bronx and took a job as a bartender and waitress to help her mother—a house cleaner and school bus driver—fight foreclosure of their home.
So she is a smart cookie but and whilst it's noble of her to help her mother, however why would such a well qualified person have to work as a bartender and waitress? Not that these are demeaning jobs but they are services jobs well below what she is qualified for and there are many well qualified and well experienced people in the U.S., in Europe and in Malaysia who have no choice but to accept jobs well below their qualifications, whilst public and private universities and colleges (graduate factories) crank out graduates lumbered with having to pay back their student loans plus the interest. The education business today are money-making concerns for educational institutions and the banks.
Congresswoman is a services job too, albeit very well paid, and any idiot can become a Congressman, Congresswoman, President, Member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister, Prime Minister, Premier, State Assemblywoman, State Assemblyman, Chief Minister, all of which don't require any academic, trade or professional qualifications - not even a Failed Pre-School qualification, when even bartenders in the U.S. have trade certifications. Perhaps I should send my resume to the Human Resources Manager at Parliament, applying for a position as Member of Parliament.
Anyone read or heard about John Naisbitt, Alvin Toffler, Don Tapscott or Nicholas Negroponte in the media especially after the financial crisis of 2008 ??
In the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s, management CON-sultants, seminar speakers, business CON-sultants, corporate heads and government ministers (mostly reading speeches prepared for them which they most probably did not understand) were dropping the names of these futurist authors like confetti at seminars, conferences, press conferences and so forth but especially after 2008, hardly anybody mentions their names or books anymore. I suppose "Information and Services Society/Economy" has become a dirty term, especially when the adverse effects of the U.S. and western economies, with their manufacturing base hollowed out impact upon the majority of working class citizens.
Fortunately, now semi-retired, I'm spared the torment of having to cover such seminars and conferences. After all, the seminar and conference business is about filling as many seats as possible with backsides willing to pay the substantial fee to hear the "words of wisdom" of these speakers who are touted as "prophets" having descended from the mountain with tablets bearing the sacred words in hand. I suppose bullshit sells in the Information and Services Society/Economy, especially after productive, real wealth-creating work - i.e. "sunset industries" leave our shores for lower wage countries which are experiencing a sunrise as a result of the influx of these "sunset industries".
Anyway, The Malay Mail article follows below.
Malaysian motorist ends up in bike lane – after claiming to have mistakenly set Waze on motorcycle mode (VIDEO)
Friday, 26 Jun 2020 05:05 PM MYT
BY TAN MEI ZI
PETALING JAYA, June 26 — A driver ended up cruising through the Federal Highway's bike lane – after he claimed he had mistakenly selected the motorcycle mode on his Waze app.
A Facebook video of the incident taken by a motorcyclist shows the driver in a black sports utility vehicle (SUV) driving down the bike lane heading towards Subang, with his vehicle almost occupying the entire width of the road.
Some motorcyclists overtook the driver to block his path and direct him towards an exit near a bus stop.
One of the motorcyclists can be heard asking if the driver was under the influence.
The Star reported that a police report was lodged against the 53-year-old after the video went viral on Wednesday and he was called in for questioning by the police at 5pm on the same day.
He is now under investigation for violating Section 79 of the Road Transport Act 1988 for neglecting traffic directions and signs.
According to Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal, the driver wound up in the motorcycle lane because he had failed to select the correct setting on his traffic navigation app.
"He was using Waze to get to his destination but because it was set to motorcycle mode, he ended up on the motorcycle lane," said Nik Ezanee.
He also confirmed that the driver has undergone the necessary tests and was not intoxicated at the time of the incident.
The case has been handed over to the deputy public prosecutor for further investigation and the driver faces a fine of no less than RM300 or up to RM2,000 if found guilty.
Yours truly
IT.Scheiss
