Magic becomes Tuesday

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

I've always loved this quote by Arthur C. Clarke.

Think back to the first time you saw an iPhone or asked ChatGPT a question.

It felt like pure, unadulterated magic, didn't it? If you had traveled back in time and shown someone these technologies, they would probably burn you at the stake.

Yet today, we use both without a second thought.

I still have moments with ChatGPT where I gasp in awe—like when it effortlessly analyzes 10 years of a company's financial statements in seconds, or crafts a flawless paragraph that puts my own to shame. But mostly, it's just become another tool in the toolkit.

I'm having one of these moments right now, with self-driving cars.

If you've been following along for a while, you might remember when I posted a photo of myself grinning like an idiot outside of a Waymo in San Francisco. I had summoned it with an Uber-like app, and moments later, this futuristic taxi rolled up, unlocking itself for us. Zoe and I sat in the back, in complete shock as it expertly navigated left turns and unpredictable traffic.

We couldn't believe it. We shared videos with everyone we knew—it felt like magic.

But this morning, I got into my Tesla, punched in my favorite café on the map, turned on AutoPilot, and leaned back to listen to a podcast.

I was completely unfazed. Self-driving has become my new normal. I rarely drive manually anymore. What was once astonishing has quickly become just another part of my day.

It reminds me of COVID. During the lockdowns, I remember thinking, "I'll never take being around people for granted again." But once the restrictions were lifted, the elation lasted a few weeks before I returned to my baseline, taking human contact for granted once more.

Today, I've almost forgotten what that isolation felt like.

Life goes on. But we shouldn't forget how insanely amazing the modern world is.

A self-driving AI-powered robot car is not something that should be taken for granted.

PS: If you haven't checked out Tesla's Full Self-Driving technology yet, you should. It's absolutely incredible. You don't even need to hold the wheel anymore. As long as you're paying attention and looking out the front windshield, it does everything. I frequently go 30-minutes or more without any intervention.

Originally published in the An innovative use for rectal thermometers issue of Never Enough.