How to Keep Your Wheels Turning Smoothly Despite the Automation Paradox

The better machines get, the more we might struggle when they fail — but not when we act with foresight and intention.

Ellane W
4 min read1 day ago

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Photo of dewy, cool blue giant flower petals overlaid onto the sky of a rich ochre coloured highway running through the desert
Photo of desert highway by Quintin Gellar; photo of dewy rose petals by Landiva Weber. Photos combined by the Author.

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Unlike my previous car, the car I drive now beeps when I get too close to things and can brake automatically when the car in front of me slows down.

I’m a much more confident driver now that I don’t have to worry about close encounters of the scratch-y/dent-y kind. Lights left on? No worries! There’s a beep for that, too.

Comic showing a figure throwing away a map in favor of using a GPS, and a mountain range with no signal. Text reads The Automation Paradox. The better machines get, the more we struggle when they fail
Image from Sketchplanations

It wasn’t until I found myself behind the wheel of a hire car recently that I saw those features as anything other than a boon. A budget vehicle, it was conspicuously beep-less! I was on my own.

Fortunately there were no major incidents with the hire car, but I surely missed those beeps and felt markedly less confident without them.

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Ellane W

Designer and educational publisher for 30 years+. Plain-text advocate. Still using paper, but less of it. https://linktr.ee/miscellaneplans