A friend of mine told me he had an example of technology going backwards in our lifetimes. While not wanting to portray the gradiose idea that civilisation is moving backwards I've added two more to the list.
- Mike's example was Concorde. When the last Concorde was shelved we moved to slower passenger travel across the Atlantic passing over a faster service
- Cellphones in cars. While not in anyway encouraging use of cellphones while driving the benefit of texting or ringing to say 'I'm running late' while stuck at the lights has been closed to us. On Friday I sat on the great southern carpark, in as rental car, leaving Auckland (long story email me if this un- Sam location interests you) , and while not moving and I stared at my ringing cellphone. The nearby police car was a strong reminder of this new policy, but as we weren't moving I felt more than a little frustrated. Yes I know you can pull over but a) the Great Southern Carpark has a very long no stopping zone b) if you're late pulling over and light stops just seems a bit much. In my case - rental cars are hard to rig a legitmate cell phone holding devices in and the messages were urgent and my inability to respond has caused a bit of trouble.
- Mudguards. I see many cyclists, including school kids, riding around with huge mud trails up their backs. It's no suprise the big thick tyres are made to pump water off the surface and fling it up. So we've abandoned mudguards on bicycles and people are getting their clothes, hair and bags covered in mud so that IF the bike is taken off road into a large ruddy mudpuddle it won't jam the chunky back wheel. So very expense bikes that look like the more expensive BMX cycles built to off-road but only used for nice urban streets. It's almost like these pristine urban tractors (4 wheel drives) running around our city - ostensibly designed for one use and now instead a status symbol for people with .... (better stop there- some of my best friends have 4wDs)
Any other examples?
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