Transportation and Autuomation
A Metro train got stuck in the tunnel during the rush hours on Tuesday. The train lost power, and completely shut down. The driver had no back-up way to contact controller. The controller knew the train did not come out of the tunnel but did not know where in the tunnel it was located. A worker was sent out to walk along the track to find out. Meanwhile the driver went to the carts to inform passengers and found out several passengers got so nervous that they walked out along the track. The worker found the train, and he had a separate communication device to stay in touch with the controller. Then the system had to send out more workers to walk along the track to track down those passengers who walked out.
I am amazed how ill-prepared the system is. First of all, it needs to provide the driver with a Verizon cell-phone, which can make calls underground. Second, the driver seemed not to take action quickly enough to manually inform passengers. It's dangerous for uninformed passengers to walk along the high-voltage track, which could kill them instantly as soon as they touch it. Third, the train seems so primitive that it neither has its own back-up power generator nor a battery-powered communication device. The whole incident is completely inexcusable.
Technology or automation should serve people rather than enslave people. Politicians always talk about job creation, but all they do is to speed up automation by adopting tax policies that accelerate depreciation of machines. The result is not only to reduce job creation ultimately but also create inconvenience even danger to consumers. I was trapped in Paris subway St. Germaine station at the exit once. We rode from Charles de Gaulle on a Sunday. The exit door did not respond to my ticket. Hubby was already out with all the luggages. He went to the service station but saw no one there. Since it was the exit it obviously no body would come in. The only way out was to climb out, but the outlet was metal-barred. The only opening was the part immediately underneath the opening, about the size of 0.7 ft by 1.5ft. I said to hubby I would squeeze myself through if my head can fit. He looked really worried, saying I should wait because he didn't think my body would fit that space. I insisted that only my head was fixed and my body was soft enough to squeeze. I tried my head and then took a deep breath squeezing through. He was horrified, saying that was really scary. The whole time there were no other people around. Every time when I read about how high unemployment rate it is in France I always have the same reaction: Yeah, viva le automation. Someday none of us would have any job.
2016.9.17
I am amazed how ill-prepared the system is. First of all, it needs to provide the driver with a Verizon cell-phone, which can make calls underground. Second, the driver seemed not to take action quickly enough to manually inform passengers. It's dangerous for uninformed passengers to walk along the high-voltage track, which could kill them instantly as soon as they touch it. Third, the train seems so primitive that it neither has its own back-up power generator nor a battery-powered communication device. The whole incident is completely inexcusable.
Technology or automation should serve people rather than enslave people. Politicians always talk about job creation, but all they do is to speed up automation by adopting tax policies that accelerate depreciation of machines. The result is not only to reduce job creation ultimately but also create inconvenience even danger to consumers. I was trapped in Paris subway St. Germaine station at the exit once. We rode from Charles de Gaulle on a Sunday. The exit door did not respond to my ticket. Hubby was already out with all the luggages. He went to the service station but saw no one there. Since it was the exit it obviously no body would come in. The only way out was to climb out, but the outlet was metal-barred. The only opening was the part immediately underneath the opening, about the size of 0.7 ft by 1.5ft. I said to hubby I would squeeze myself through if my head can fit. He looked really worried, saying I should wait because he didn't think my body would fit that space. I insisted that only my head was fixed and my body was soft enough to squeeze. I tried my head and then took a deep breath squeezing through. He was horrified, saying that was really scary. The whole time there were no other people around. Every time when I read about how high unemployment rate it is in France I always have the same reaction: Yeah, viva le automation. Someday none of us would have any job.
2016.9.17
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