Noise and Social Change
The New York Times recently reported on an issue that most Prius and other hybrid car drivers know about: “stealth mode”. When running solely on the electric motor, hybrids don’t make much sound at all. Most of what we think of as automobile sounds are from the gas engine.
Some people out there don’t bother to look before crossing a road in a parking lot and apparently just listen for a car. Many hybrid drivers have a story about someone walking in front of their car without looking.
Now, pedestrians do have the right of way and drivers do need to watch and to give way. But let’s be rational. Pedestrians shouldn’t walk directly in front of a moving car either! When I’ve been driving and this has happened to me, the offending pedestrian often looks up indignantly at me.
Niven and Pournelle would consider this evolution in action. True enough, but a little rough. I consider it a learning experience to become more aware of our surroundings.
The NYT article talks about adding noisemakers to hybrids. To an engineer this would be a kludge. That is, an unsatisfactory and cumbersome fix to a problem. Besides, I think a little less noise in the world is a good thing.
In the end a social change will result if hybrids and electric cars continue to become more common: People will start looking both ways before they cross a road - even in a parking lot. This is just like our parents trained us to do when we were kids; it’s not exactly a radical new idea.
Technology changes society (think about cell phones), and society changes technology too (the web). Neither controls the other, but in the long term they’re locked together. Both society and technology are created by humans and are just aspects of ourselves. We’re both toolmakers and social animals.
So watch where you’re walking! And if you don’t, then don’t be surprised when a hybrid screeches to a stop at your feet.