The 3 Commandments of Electronic Devices
Mike proposes a basic set of 3 cardinal rules for any sort of electrical or electronic device on the market, and expresses bewilderment at the fact that such rules don't already exist as common sense. He emphasizes the need for user-centric design in electronics, where clarity and human control override potentially dangerous or frustrating automation.
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…
Welcome to another riveting episode of "Open Mike LIVE" with yours truly, an old man who can't figure out a new phone! I've decided to just start singing my own music, mostly to avoid “Copyright Karen,” who manages to find and scrub all the music I've been illegally using for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you post bullshit on Facebook, you've met her.
It’s a crisp evening here on Monday, 3 December 2024. It's kind of a relief to see normal weather somewhere in this country, and I guess if it's going to be somewhere, it might as well be in the most normal place in America, Ohio!
We're soon heading into 2025 — a year that, in my mind, always seemed like a secret stage in a video game, something we weren't really supposed to reach. I mean, 2020 was supposed to be the end! Oprah was supposed to be President, and we were all supposed to erupt in jubilation before the asteroid hit. Instead, I managed to not make the cut for that particular set of events.
I often reflect on how sci-fi has evolved in parallel with our real future. This is the future, guys, and I'm pissed we don't even have the trains we had in the '60s, let alone flying cars. Hell, as an unhoused person reflecting on living through the **greatest economy in history**, thank you, Joe Biden—and I don't even mean that sarcastically. We are lucky compared to many other possibilities emerging from the cluster that was the Donald Trump/Coronavirus shit show. People are bitching about inflation, but if inflation is the thing you’re going to choose to vote for fascism over, then my God, you need to check your sense of reality. I haven't tried fascism yet, but I do enjoy the expediency of it—it's a lot more efficient than democracy.
When I look at sci-fi, it’s a litmus test for society’s vibe. I grew up watching *Star Trek: The Next Generation*, which had this great optimism, the notion of a United Federation. Back around that time, things were great in terms of science, national pride, and concrete achievements. But born in 1986—the year of the Challenger explosion—I always remind myself as an engineer that no matter how badly I fuck up, I hopefully won't fuck up like that.
But then I watch documentaries about the **Boeing 737 Maxes**. Their autopilots just decided to repeatedly crash those planes nose deep into the ground. As an electrical engineer, that kind of automation sickens me. The entire Boeing 737 Max debacle—let’s call it a "she-bacle"—is the kind of disaster that should merit the bankruptcy of one of our nation’s proudest companies.
This brings me to what I call **Mike George’s Three Commandments of Any Electrical or Electronic Device**. I think these should be common sense:
Commandment 1: Indication
**Every electronic device shall have a red light that indicates when it is on and when it is off**. That red light should be ON when the device is ON and OFF when the device is OFF. This is particularly critical in the utility industry when we’re working on high-voltage equipment—it's kind of important to know if a 230-kV transmission line is on or off for the purpose of not killing your crew members or yourself. In the consumer world, I’m appalled by how many flat-screen TVs don't meet this basic requirement. I’ve even seen televisions where the red light is on when it is *off*, and the light goes off when it is *on*! It follows the exact opposite convention, making the whole light pointless.
Commandment 2: The Kill Switch
This goes specifically for any sort of automated feature, including the autopilot or proximity sensors on your car. I was driving my ex-partner Luke's Honda, and it had a proximity sensor that automatically applied the brakes when I got too close to the car in front of me.
Now, I’m a safe driver, but sometimes judgment compels me to scooch a little closer than the prescribed 10 feet per 10 miles per hour. I would find the car slowing itself down without my consent. Here’s a good example: **when you are passing a car on a two-lane road**. It is critical that you accelerate fast enough to pass the car safely and get back to your lane before the semi-truck coming from the opposite direction collides with you head-on. The last thing you want is the car breaking! The autopilot didn't care; it kept slowing me down. I found myself literally fighting the gas pedal while the autopilot was braking.
The machine is trying to do the right thing, and fine, it fucked up. But as the human, the sentient being whose heart depends on that car not crashing, **there needs to be a big red kill switch for disabling any sort of automation on the device so you can take manual control of it**. I was filled with rage fighting against all the automatic bullshit of that car.
Commandment 3: ???
I'm going to leave you guys on a cliffhanger. I’ve done all the talking, and now I implore the class to participate. Your assignment is to complete the third Cardinal Rule.
I’m currently at The Ohio State University, and so far, the humans are winning. Though, some of these humans look awfully boring; they could be machines. I’d have to try smacking them and turning them off and on again to tell. Be good to yourselves, take care of your machines, because when they rule the world—and they don’t give us off switches to turn the fuckers off—we’re going to be at their mercy. And thank God, because the humans already had a chance, and we see how that has completely blown up in our face. Good riddens, bye.
