Global Obviating System

It wasn't the loudest, all-hell-out-for-a-stroll thunderstorm I've ever heard (that was in Singapore), but we had a good one this evening. Nice and loud. It was the first one of the year, and a harbinger of spring, with enough close lightning for us to switch off all electronic entertainment, computers included, for a little while. We need to do that more often, and for longer.

Speaking of switching off the electronics: "GPS... obviates our need to memorize routes and may even diminish our capacity to do so," writes Julia Turner in Slate in an article called "A World Without Signs."

"Since the early 1980s, cognitive researchers have argued that it is the process of deciding which route to take that helps us develop our mental map of a place and remember how to navigate it the next time we pass through," she continues. "People who use GPS systems tend to retain less information about the world they encounter. Greg Giordano, who designs wayfinding systems for PageSoutherlandPage in Austin, Texas, notes that the technology gets us where we need to go without teaching us anything: It's not very good at 'making us smarter about places.' "

I suspected as much. GPS is fine for the high seas, open deserts or trackless rain forests. But the well-traveled, well-marked roads of North America?

GPS does (theoretically, still) offer us the prospect of never getting lost on our North American roads again. As if that were a good thing. Getting lost occasionally and finding your way again is an essential part of travel.