"... and at one point, my dad's in the backseat. My mom's sitting next to me in the front seat. And at one point, my dad said, like, where are you going? Like, why are you going this way? And I don't even know exactly where I was. I think it had taken me to the Cross Island, and then an exit in Queens. And he was like, why are you going this way? And I was like, the GPS says-- I'm just following the GPS-- (LAUGHING) like I always do. And then it told me to make a left on Broadway in Queens. I made the left, and dad was like, oh my god, Janet, we're going to go right by-- Janet, do you know where we are?"/"It had taken them right to the neighborhood where her parents were first a couple, working together in his family's business."
From the prologue to Episode 750 of "This American Life" ("The Ferryman"). I highly recommend the 7-minute audio,
here. And
here's the transcript.
This isn't a Halloween episode, by the way. There isn't even the slightest speculation about how something supernatural might happen via GPS. The daughter, mother, and father are on their way to the hospital in Manhattan — a drive they'd done countless times without ever getting this route from the GPS — and they all know that the mother is very close to death (and does die a week later).
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22 comments:
And I was like, he was like, they were like...
Gag me with a spoon.
I live near the other UW. My UW is full of Chinese students. English is a second language all over campus.
Invariably, you find the Chinese students walking in the neighborhood while entirely focused on their phones with earbuds installed.
I've watched numerous times as the Chinese student will march confidently in one direction, stop, consult their phones, and then reverse direction. Map reading is a lost art.
I'm really surprised we haven't had more people struck by vehicles.
Like, she’s an idiot, because she is, like, incapable of speaking, like, like an adult.
My sons accuse me of being of being a curmudgeon when I point out that societal decay is indicated in seemingly inconsequential things on the fringes. Neck tattoos, green hair, misspellings on professionally printed signs, inarticulate morons given a public voice. But the truth is that I’m more bored than outraged. It’s become too easy to know who to write off. I miss the challenge.
It's interesting to how many people, COMPLETELY TRUST their GPS
My Brother in law, ALWAYS follows it... "'cause it Knows the Fastest Route!"
I've asked him, WHY he thinks it's 'the Fastest Route', and he says: "'cause the GPS says!"
Such Trust!
On the Other hand; i tend to look at where i'm going, and Guess what? A LOT of times, the GPS route makes NO Sense. If you're out in the country, google has a Very dim idea of what roads are
a) bumpy
b) fresh paved
c) gravel
d) not there anymore
But, people don't notice; 'cause people don't look where they're going...
The GPS says, 'turn left'... So they do.
My wife will slavishly follow the GPS, especially if it does real-time traffic.
I am more selective, as Waze has (on occasion) taken me a mere three or four blocks out of the way for no apparent reason.
Having a cell phone was a convenience.
Over time, it evolved into a message center with text, and email. Later, games, and music were introduced.
Recently, the cell phone in my pocket has become a tracking device, and now it can be the voice in my head providing directions.
On one level, and I'll do this first because its the nice thing I'll say about this, its a very neat story. This kind of stuff happens a lot, every day to different people. It's always something we hear, shake our heads at, think about, and smile, almost knowingly like we all know there's more to this existence than we can understand. And then we move on with our lives. My wife has had a few of these otherworldly things happen to her with regard to passed loved ones. So have both my sisters. I seem to be immune to this. Not surprising as I am the most cynical of the group.
But, being the cynic...I cannot listen to Ira Glass. His voice annoys me. And though he led this discussion it seems like it would have been better to not insert that voice into the story- just let her tell her tale.
She'd driven to that hospital more times than she could count. Yet she still used the GPS on this trip and obediently followed it, despite it not being the route she'd taken more times than she could count. That's amazing in and of itself.
Next- Waze is owned by Google. They know where we drive, what we say, conversations we've had, and all the photos we save. They know past address in your phone or computer life. Their algorithms can set us up for anything. It's probable her folks also had Waze or Google on their phones, heard a conversation about their old neighborhood or knew of their past addresses. Perhaps a recent conversation about 'the old neighborhood'. Once Google/Waze knew of a past address, it took them there. Why on this trip? Who knows? Maybe some spirit invaded the algorithm. I know when I get into my car in the parking lot of a store, my phone immediately plots a route back to my house. I can be in a store in Detroit and it's plotting the way back to my house in Florida. I don't request it. It's just working overtime.
On the other hand...there are things in this life that we don't know about or cannot understand and we won't until we go on to the next phase when hopefully, everything becomes clearer.
"And I've become, like, such a slave to the GPS...
Like, oh my god, isn't that, like, triggering use of the word slavery?
People who were slaves to their GPS have driven right past “road closed” and “bridge out” signs, sometimes to their deaths. Think of it as evolution in action.
Recommend reading “Pinpoint - How GPS Is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds” by Greg Milner, published in 2016.
I would ban the use of GPS and calculators until people can demonstrate proficiency with maps and slide rules.
And for the same reason
Both GPS & calculators give you the answer with no context of how you got it. If they give you the wrong answer you may never know.
It's why people try to drive on nonexistent roads or the wrong way on a one way street.
It's why McDonald's cashiers give $10 change on a $3 order paid with a $5 bill.
"The computer told me to"
Shame on them.
I do love my GPS though. But it tells me nothing about where I am going. I always like to have a map too.
John Henry
I still carry a detailed Wisconsin map book in my car. GPS isn't always up to snuff on road closures, detour routes, etc. We have to resort to physical maps at least once a summer. Wisconsin has two seasons: winter and road construction.
I'm not sure what I'm expected to focus on here but I will share that I have taken the route from La Guardia to Weill Cornell countless times in limos and ubers using Waze. From out on Long Island the Expressway is a straight shot to the Midtown Tunnel or the Queensboro Bridge but the traffic backups are unpredictable so you have to guess if the northern route to FDR and York Ave might be quicker. Sometimes you end up weaving through Queens and the deep underbelly of main thoroughfares and warehouse back alleys. It's a car sick kind of ride...
I never understood the appeal of Waze. During rush hour it can commit you to a circuitous route based on what it thinks is fastest but the problem is it's based only on current traffic, not future predicted traffic. It often sent me into traffic jams formed after it calculated but before I arrived. I think it often makes things worse...
Coincidences are God’s way of staying anonymous
I live in Queens, use Waze, and this story is very familiar to me. The criticisms of GPS in these comments are correct in small ways and wrong in a very big way. Yes, sometimes Waze takes me on a detour that saves 1 minute if all goes well. Yes, I have learned that certain Waze preferences are foibles that don't really make much difference at all, and it is easier to spot them in neighborhoods you know well.
But when Waze tells me to make a major detour that takes me off a highway or most clearly direct route, and I ignore it, that decision turns out to be a disaster 80-90% of the time. True, the roundabout way might save just 5 minutes on a 45 minute trip, because it is less direct, and I'm not the only one now taking the less direct route. But often enough it makes a 10-15 minute difference, and Waze can only make the best of a bad situation with limited better options in a borough/county that maximizes the worst parts of suburban sprawl and city density. Excluding Staten Island, which might as well be part of New Jersey in terms of transportation infrastructure and population density, Queens has the least amount of subway and bus coverage per square mile or per capita of the entire city. Plus almost everyone coming from Nassau or Suffolk counties -- just like Amy and her family in the story -- has to pass though Queens to get to Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, or literally anywhere in the rest of the country. And because it's an island, there are a very limited number of ways out that everyone has to pass through.
So spare me the anti-Waze, anti-GPS posturing. Not only did following Waaze in this instance lead to a lovely story and family remembrance, but it made sense logically.
I use GPS as a backup only, and not even that most of the time, but if I am going anywhere new, I always check it by map and commit it to memory.
They called the priest to "administer last rights, just in case." I don't know what the last rights are. I know the first rights: "Congress shall make no law etc." Maybe he meant "last rites," aka extreme unction. He may not be Catholic.
AvoCat
See "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster on the perils of placing too much faith in technology. It's great when it works. It stinks when it doesn't & you haven't learned resourcefulness.
I'm remembering a big official road sign in Sevierville, TN flashing "Your GPS is Wrong! Turn here for ...."
Also Google hasn't caught up with the year-ago rerouting of roads in my neighborhood. DoorDash drivers have arrived in rather foul moods.
Lot of times I'll use GPS on my normal routes because it'll warn me of traffic delays up ahead. That way I can choose an alternate route.
That said, you still need to keep your brain engaged while using it. That's because I remember the news report of the family where the father died saving his wife and kid after they got stranded when their GPS sent them up a dirt logging road in Oregon during a blizzard.
My wife is the designated co-pilot and uses GPS to pinpoint destination details of new locales. I always consult a map beforehand and have the broad picture of where we are headed -- major highway routes, one or two exit numbers, or major intersections -- in my head. I can get very close, but the GPS (usually!) nails it.
I have a flip phone. If I'm driving, passengers with GPS are welcome to advise me of the auguries, which I can then take or leave.
I still use maps, mental and physical. When I rented a Skoda van for some battlefield touring in France in '17, I had the nice Michelin atlas in my lap the whole time. On the way to CdG airport, my wife turned its GPS on and it actually was helpful getting there out of Paris.
But that was only about the last 15-20 miles of what totaled to about 900.
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