From: Greg Burch (gregburch@gregburch.net)
Date: Sat Jul 20 2002 - 08:34:01 MDT
> [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.org] On Behalf Of Phil Osborn
> Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2002 2:33 AM
> [snip lots of smart observations about motorcycling]
I drove motorcycles for a long time and, for many years, a Kawasaki 650
was my only motorized transportation. The year I turned 30 I stopped
cold turkey, because I realized that my diminishing reflexes could no
longer keep up with my undiminished exuberance for speed. Since then
I've satisfied my desire for speed and responsiveness with an
ever-escalating involvement with 4-wheeled performance vehicles.
But back in my biker days, I used to think a lot about technological
approaches to increasing the survivability of motorcycle accidents (my
share of which I had -- I like to say I had two fatal motorcycle
accidents). Whipping along in the wind, I eventually envisioned a
fairly elaborate system based on an active response by a garment with
quite a bit of "smarts": Upon the proper triggering conditions, the
biker's suit would stiffen and inflate in various areas to protect the
squishy and brittle rider inside. We're almost at the point where such
a garment could be built, although the sensors and software that drove
it would have to be near-foolproof, since deployment at the wrong time
would cause an accident.
BTW, Neal Stephenson described something very close to what I had
imagined in "The Diamond Age", IIRC. I had that system designed in my
head about 10 years before . . .
Greg Burch
Vice-President, Extropy Institute
My Current Ride: http://gregburch.net/cars/vette20020713.html
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