For example, Britain’s national mapping organisation’s brand is associated in our national consciousness with going to a small shop in a quaint village to get a map showing how to walk up a mountain. It’s called Ordnance Survey. If that sounds like Artillery Research to you, that’s because the project started because the king wanted to know how to accurately bomb Scotland.
Driving just gets more absurd the more you think about it.
Had it not been invented yet, would anyone get away with suggesting a machine propelled by explosions supplied by a tank of the most flammable liquid possible kept underneath the passenger seats?
Reminds me of the Asgard from Stargate and how there advanced race was surprised about how we us explosives to propel a bullet and “primitive” things they never really thought of or considered because there dangerous.
Your comment just reminded me of a sci-fi short story about how humans solve every problem eith explosions.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/16fx8tc/humans_solve_problems_with_explosions/
If you think driving’s weird, think about flying, too. We put several tons of that explode-y liquid, along with a bunch of people, into a big metal tube and shoot it into the sky. And we made that form of transportation several orders of magnitude safer than driving.
I feel like it’s probably going to go down in safety an order of magnitude or two in the US given, you know, The Horrors.
Not just merely a machine powered by explosions, sitting on volatile liquids… but one in which we’ve decided that it’s also a great place to enjoy some music, maybe a nice beverage, and as a great way to take our attention off into vast distances to the sides to “see the sights”.
I think to myself as I steer with one knee, trying to simultaneously drink my coffee and light a cigarette…
You don’t need to worry about crashing. You’ll be protected by an unmaintained bomb that can inflate a pillow faster than you can travel 18 inches at 70 mph yet somehow never goes off accidentally.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15351109/honda-recalls-304000-accords-for-airbags-that-accidentally-deploy/
Unfortunately not never