A Deadly Wandering

“The accident became a catalyst. It spun together perspectives, philosophies, and lives—those of Reggie and his advocates, and Terryl and the other pursuers, including, ultimately, prosecutors, legislators, and top scientists. It forced people to confront their own truths, decades-old events, and secrets that helped mold them and their reactions—in some cases conflicted and in others overpowering—to this modern tragedy.” 

Reggie’s accident is an important center point for the philosophical underpinnings of driving safety laws, behavioral science, and for many of the personal trajectories of the figures whose paths cross with Reggie. 

“At the same time, such technology—from the television to the computer and phone—can put pressure on the brain by presenting it with more information, and of a type of information, that makes it hard for us to keep up. That is particularly true of interactive electronics, delivering highly relevant, stimulating social content, and with increasing speed. The onslaught taxes our ability to attend, to pay attention, arguably among the most important, powerful, and uniquely human of our gifts.” 

Technology’s allure—its ability to deliver an infinite stream of personally tailored information—is what makes it so dangerous, as the hard science in later chapters will argue. The incredibly advanced technology that humans have made is so engrossing that we can’t stay away from it, even when our lives depend on doing so. 

“This was the marriage of Moore and Metcalfe—the coming together of processing power and personal communications—our gadgets becoming faster and more intimate. They weren’t just demanding attention but had become so compelling as to be addictive.” 

Moore’s Law states that the processing capabilities of computers will double approximately every two years. Metcalfe’s Law defines the power of a computer network as the square of the number of people using it. The fact that we derive more value from the larger networks (such as social networks like Facebook, which a sizable percentage of the global population uses) means it is more likely we will be addicted, in that there is both an individual desire to use the network and, for many, a perceived social obligation to do so.