Memoirs: Reverse

From the archives...like in 1999 or so...but I can't find the date so I'll just offer it now, and add some stuff.

WHAT in the world causes humans to have such an insatiable fascination with reverse? Did it ever occur to humans to avoid getting into situations out of which they'd need to back? Instead, they assume they will need to back up. It's like someone said, "We KNOW we are going in somewhere we will want out of, so let's make ourselves twice the work!"

Rewind? Yes, let's revisit something over and over and overrrrrr.

Fascinations with time machines to go back in time? (the irony of the t-shirt "been there done that" is not lost on me here) Why in the Sam Hill, as Mom would say, would you want to go back to the past? Surely humans realize by now that the perception of "fixing something" means a host of alternative consequences for which no one is qualified to determine the degree of advantageousness.

This pre-occupation with reversing effects (don't get me started on "reverse the aging process" products and methodologies) is so unevolved. It involves retroaction as opposed to pro-action. What if, and I know I'm just being ridiculous here, we considered thinking before we act? Or, idk, like actually making more conscious choices in the first place instead of assuming we can just fix it later if it's messed up?

Boats? If you cannot get out, do NOT go in there (to quote Ace Venture, a truly exceptional human specimen).

Ok, not planes or spaceships. Because reverse on a plane, well, ummm, yeah. And there's no need for reverse on spaceships because when you are focused on the multi-dimensional planes of space, you see the possibilities of yaw, roll, spin, etc. In space shuttle piloting (and yes, I have a little training in this...see "The Beginning" for more...) you spend a lot of time using physics and trigonometric calculations to precisely plan your chosen path. You conserve fuel at all costs (because of the embarrassingly lacking methods of human space travel at this point) by being extremely careful about moving unless you have to. I'm not saying you all have to go re-take Trig and Physics in order to drive or listen to music, I'm just saying a tiny bit of forethought might save you a lot of energy.

And this makes it clear, the more "futuristic" something is, the less "reverse" is needed.

For example, the iPhone. Truly one of the most expansive leaps of technology humans have managed (consider the leap distance here: flip phone with numbers only and mechanical buttons to full touch screen technology). You might have noticed (or like me researched extensively) the fact that the iPhone does not have an "off" button. No reverse. Why? Well, later in life, after being diagnosed with cancer, Jobs said that spiritually, wisdom lives on in another form, like sleep/wake and not like on/off. He said that this is why he never put an off switch on an iPhone or Apple product. However, if you saw the original iPhone Keynote Speech (and if you didn't, you should: https://thenextweb.com/apple/2015/09/09/genius-annotated-with-genius/), you will notice how many times Jobs introduces the idea of simplicity. The idea of off was pointless. The idea of rewind was pointless.

In fact, it is well-known that Jobs hated buttons. And he hated them because they weren't in alignment with whatever they were on. They insinuated that it had to be complicated, when it did not, because devices with buttons were full of buttons. So, the iPhone manifested that belief (as did most of his Apple products, from the beginning). No sticky-outy buttons which could cause problems, nothing to interfere with using the iPhone for whatever you needed to use it for. When he showed the first Apple Remote Control for Apple TV, he showed it next to a regular TV remote. Just think about that visual for a second.

Here, let me help:

(1: By Remote by Fernando Carmona González This derivative work by Grm wnr - Based on Remote via FlickrOwn work, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=607053)

(2: By kumazo - http://www.flickr.com/photos/kose/4143560230/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17067382)

(3: By PNG to JPG by Iainf 01:17, 12 April 2007 (UTC) (Image:Harmony670.png) [CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons)

(4: By Andreas Lakso (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

So as you can see, few buttons give way to fewer buttons, give way to voice commands and no rewind button (and I guarantee you SJ did not approve the fact that this Siri remote had 5.5 buttons). Why? Because rewind is dumb. Off is dumb. And Steve Jobs got that. (If you doubt the importance of following Steve Jobs as your personal Guru, please see "The Two Humans who were Actually Onto Something").

I say, if you know you'll want out, don't go in. Or make it a circle drive. Whoever invented the circle drive may have been much more evolved than anyone realized. And FYI curvy roads were not invented til like the industrial revolution (okay that may be slightly inaccurate but there was a strong preference for straight roads as early as the time the Romans really got into making roads).

The point is, roads are and always have been utilitarian. And what is more useful than continuing forward on one's path?

#advice #alien #earth #humanity #40s