This sounds like useful technology - warning distracted pedestrians about oncoming traffic to prevent fatalities. Reminds me of a presentation I saw recently by a transportation researcher was talking about designing a perfect driving system that recognizes that people behave in ways that are not in their best interests. Notwithstanding, the perfect system is one that works around these flawed and incorrigible human beings to prevent them from doing their worst.
So in this case, the headphones will allow the pedestrian to tool around town like a zombie oblivious to their surroundings and help them not walk straight into a car driving by. Over time, such perfect systems will get smarter and proportionately dumb us down. This is just like bad parenting where you enable kids by not setting any reasonable expectations for them and demanding basic performance. We all know how that turns out both for the kid and the parent in question. Imagining that scenario play out societal level globally is hard but its unlikely to be pretty.
So in this case, the headphones will allow the pedestrian to tool around town like a zombie oblivious to their surroundings and help them not walk straight into a car driving by. Over time, such perfect systems will get smarter and proportionately dumb us down. This is just like bad parenting where you enable kids by not setting any reasonable expectations for them and demanding basic performance. We all know how that turns out both for the kid and the parent in question. Imagining that scenario play out societal level globally is hard but its unlikely to be pretty.
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