Tag Archives: Exoskeletons

day 2839: The Way Of The Segway

They said it was just a matter of time and that time has come.  The Segway is no more.  Once heralded as the revolution of personal transportation it became best known for carrying packs of tourists around cities and a way for police officers to get around airports and malls.  There were lots of reasons that the Segway didn’t make it, but as one person said, “Riding one made people look ridiculous”.  We can’t ever forget that no matter the degree of technology advancement human factors still matter.  Think Google Glass(es).  How about why Virtual Reality (VR) goggles are taking so long to catch on?  Exoskeletons? All are hampered by the human condition of how we look, how others perceive of us and ultimately how using these technologies make us feel.  Yes, we are humans at the end of it all and being human makes a difference.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately (you might be able to recognize that from my lackluster writing last week).  There is so much swirling around us now to think about that trying to get down to the basics, the heart of the matter, the finite truths is very hard to do right now.  But, it is time and energy well spent if we are to be able to sort through things well.  In this time of reflection, I have found myself coming back to the Serenity Prayer many times.  Like so much of our human nature (as mentioned above) there are things that we just have to recognize we can’t change or influence and things that do and don’t really matter (more on this tomorrow) so we are better off in starting with accepting what we can’t change and then growing from there.

Reference: The Serenity Prayer

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” –  Reinhold Niebuhr