Clive ThompsonJan 12, 2023

After becoming a regular daily errands-and-commuting cyclist in NYC for a few years now, whenever I get in my car to go somewhere ...

... the sheer weight and size of the metal around me seems positively *sci fi*

I mean, cars?

They're basically MECHAS. Right?

A human inside

controlling this weirdly big-ass piece of exoskeletal steel

Show threadJacob HarrisJan 12, 2023
@clive There is a weird sensory melding after a little bit of driving where you basically start to feel the boundaries of the car automatically. If you nearly get into an accident you yell "You almost hit me!" and not "you almost hit my car!"
Show threadClive ThompsonJan 12, 2023

@harrisj

Yes, precisely!

Very cybernetic

Also, a Canadian poet I once knew regarded cars as deeply Freudian places -- id-release devices, "hence the exuberant singing along with the radio, the quick and ready rages"

Show threadErin KissaneJan 12, 2023
@clive @harrisj As a former non-driver (got my first license in 2019) now doing daily school runs by car in a place dominated by big trucks, I feel all of this very hard.
Show threadClive ThompsonJan 12, 2023

@kissane @harrisj

Totally!

Show threadErin KissaneJan 12, 2023
@clive @harrisj Like how am I, a not a car person, feeling this weird joy when I tomato-seed through the narrow street half blocked by utility trucks and nail the perfect accel-decel curve at the corner after the long straight run? I meant to be immune to fast kinetic pleasures! This is not my body! And yet it moves 
Show threadJacob HarrisJan 12, 2023
@kissane @clive The poor medieval peasant never got to experience the visceral joys of a perfect down-shift to switch lanes and make a turn while your favorite song is cresting on the radio
Show threadClive Thompson

@harrisj @kissane

The thing about driving that is going to bake the goddamn planet is that it can really be fun

Jan 12, 2023 at 10:10pmWeb