What do you do with free time?

It's no secret that for the past four or five years, I've almost completely eliminated free time from my lifestyle.  Of course I was working full time, but in the past five years I've also done an 18-class masters degree, helped start and run Ndoto for a couple years, helped start nonprofits in Ethiopia and Peru, dated, gotten engaged, and married, started playing softball regularly, volunteered for 12 weeks in South America, and tried to maintain some sense of relationships, at least with family.  Basically, "unscheduled" time has been something that happened only every few weeks.  I have no regrets over how I've spent my time, but there is one unfortunate consequence.

I'm not really sure what to do with myself when I'm not "working."

I realize that there's something dangerously wrong with me when I decide to take an evening off from work and then can't think of anything to do other than slouch on our sofa in front of the TV.  I suspect that, if calculated, I would be found to spend at least 75% of my waking hours in immediate contact with some sort of digital display, whether a computer, a TV, or my phone.  Most of my relaxation time is dependent on digital screens too, including TV, movies, and games.  How did I get so dependent on a technology that is so new, in historical terms?  For all of human history, how did we survive without these digital devices?

It's tongue-in-cheek, of course, because humans seemed to get along just fine doing all sorts of things, like "going outside," as I think it's called.  I hear that once upon a time, people actually sat together and didn't do much of anything, except perhaps talk.  It's rumored that there was a time when families played games together (before the Wii).  A few people had these things called hobbies.  But for the most part, people lived dreadfully boring lives when there wasn't instant digital entertainment at their fingertips.  Glad I live today.

This summer, I finish my grad school, and I have to say I have had a bit of fear regarding not having schoolwork to occupy large chunks of my evenings and weekends.  What, oh what, will I do?  I'd like to give my eyes a rest from digital screens for a while, so I'm starting some controls now to keep me from going down that road.  I've already started trying to drastically limit my use of a phone prior to breakfast and after 10pm.  It helps me get in bed faster and up sooner and probably helps my sleep quality.  I'm also thinking of giving my brain a rest from all that thinking, and working with my hands a bit.  Simple carpentry and gardening sound very pleasant to me.  And, I think I'll work on rebuilding those relationships I've let slide in several years of constant working.

Of course, if/when we end up having kids, that'll all change, but maybe I'll just get them addicted to digital displays from a young age so I can continue with my gardening.

Where We Are Heading

Over a few beers a couple weeks ago, some friends and I got to discussing the future of self-driving cars.  It seems like we're headed that direction in a hurry, and I'm fascinated by the implications of that.  Don't think it's happening?  Look around you.  For some time we've had cars that can parallel park for you.  Now we have cars that can hit the brakes for you to avoid a collision.  Driverless cars already exist, and several companies are predicting a mass-market version by the end of the decade.  Perspectives differ on exactly how they will spread into the market, whether extremely slowly or rapidly, whether all-at-once or just by implementing certain features at a time, but I think we are undoubtedly heading that direction.

Why wouldn't we head that direction?  We humans are overall terrible drivers.  We make an enormous number of mistakes, whether it's because we are not paying attention or because of things we just can't know.  In 2012, 34,080 people died in motor vehicle accidents, meaning you have about a 1 in 10,000 chance of dying in a given year on the roads.  Those odds are far too high.  How could those odds be decreased?  By taking the human factor out.  The government is already calling for car manufacturers to accelerate plans for cars to talk to each other.  The next step will be for cars to drive themselves.

What happens when cars are capable of driving themselves?  Well, lots of things, if you think about it!  It totally changes the game.  We need fewer police officers and traffic lights, which saves the government money (they can either cut taxes or spend it on something else more useful).  We won't need to pay as much in car insurance (there will be fewer wrecks, and if there is one you're more likely to be owed money by the manufacturer of the car's computer than another driver).  Most households will only need one car (you can just send it back to get another family member once you're at your destination).  You could even monetize your car when you're not using it, through a smartphone network like Lyft.  You can rest, work, or do anything else you'd like while commuting to work.  We won't need such large roads, as cars will move more like a flock of birds and less in traffic jams.  We may even need less parking spaces, if cars aren't staying where their owners are!

There are things to be considered in all of this.  Cities are moving to be more pedestrian-friendly.  How does this coexist with new developments in driverless cars?  Cities also traditionally expect infrastructure investments to last at least thirty years, meaning that investments taking place right now will still be in place when we have self-driving cars.  Thus, if city managers aren't taking the future into account, they are making mistakes as we speak.  Or, are there more challenging ethical issues to be considered, based on the fact that computers will not be able to avoid all collisions?  Additionally, how do we ensure the safety of a system that could be hacked, reprogrammed, or damaged?

I love thinking about the future, and I'm excited for what could come in the future - a safer, quicker way of moving about!  I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject in the comments!