Rick Creation

In my last post I introduced the Google car to you.

Now, let me point some did just that I think that such an innovation could provide. In alphabetical order, they are:

 

Automobile interior industries would pop up, industries to design the interior of your car for relaxation, exercise, business, family fun, living, or whatever arrangement would benefit you. The possibilities for interior design of the car would be limitless.

Bicyclists would ride with fewer traffic concerns. Perhaps more people would ride bikes.

Billboards would fall.  Since people wouldn’t need to watch the road, they would likely be more focused on what is going on inside the car than outside.  Billboards wouldn’t be as useful.

Car repairs could be simpler and more efficient.  When scheduled maintenance was due, or when the car sensed that it needed to be looked at, it could take itself to all-night repair shops and be back in your garage in the morning.

Cheaper cars.  What? Cheaper? How?  With safer cars, you would need fewer safety measures.  You could have lighter cars.  Okay, the cost of the driverless technology might exceed the savings, but the savings would be there.

Complicated traffic directions would be a thing of the past.  Tell your potential guest where you are, perhaps directly transmitting the information to their car, and the car would bring them there.

Disabled people would no longer be limited.

Drunk driving would disappear.

Elderly drivers would no longer have to give up their drivers licenses. They could get out of the house more, go where they wanted.

Emergency vehicles would get to their destinations faster. Not only would they be able to go faster and more safely, but there could be an option where an emergency vehicle could have all of the vehicles in its path pull over to the side in time for it to get by safely and quickly. And since the vehicle was driverless, ambulances could have an extra person helping with the care of the patient.

Energy consumption would go down as self driving vehicles made transportation more efficient.

Errands would be simpler. You could place all your orders online, the information would be transferred to your car, which would go out, pick everything up, and bring it home.  Perhaps you could program regular deliveries, and your car could go get everything at regularly scheduled times.  Or perhaps merchants would have self-driving delivery cars that would deliver products straight to people.

Family emergencies would be easier to handle–if someone needed to get to the hospital quick, or a kid need to go to grandma’s and no one was available to drive them, or someone needed something urgently from somewhere, here comes the driverless car to the rescue.

Family interaction might increase as it would no longer be necessary for Dad or Mom to pay attention to the road while traveling instead of interacting with the kids. Kids would never again be told, “Be quiet! You’re distracting the driver!”

Handicapped parking would disappear. It wouldn’t be needed.

Insurance rates would go down.  Way down.

Parents would get more sleep.  No longer would they need to get up early to take kids to early morning activities, or stay up late to bring them home.  They could just program the car to do that.

Parking would be simpler.  Your car would drop you off at your location and come and get you when you wanted to.

Pedestrians would feel safer.

Pollution would go down.

Privacy options would increase. With the need to see out of the car no longer an issue, people could black out their windows for privacy purposes. Celebrities, government officials, or just normal people who wanted to be left alone could travel unseen.

Private ownership of cars could decrease.  Instead of owning your own car, people could call on a car only when needed.  This would save them money and result in fewer cars on the road.   You could have a mileage plan, a pay per use plan, an unlimited plan–perhaps modeled on cell phone plans.

Productivity would increase as people could do other things instead of driving.

Road obstacles would be less annoying. When a road obstacle occurs, the first car there would submit the data to a general database, and all cars would have access to that information. Of course if somebody was setting up an obstacle on purpose, such as a construction company, or the police, they could announce it. Far less inconvenience. Cars would map the best way around.

Road rage would almost disappear.

Rush hour traffic would go way down as cars could drive faster, closer together, and with fewer accidents that tie up freeways.

Security would increase. No more walking to your car across deserted parking lots, through deserted parking garages, down dark streets.

Teen deaths would go down. Way down. The leading cause of teen deaths is accidents, especially automobile accidents.  Also going down would be accidental deaths of children, bicyclists, pedestrians, and animals. And with all of that premature death disappearing, so disappears the sorry and despair of surviving family and friends.

Vacations would be much more efficient and economical.  Instead of hours of tiring, boring, travel time, travel could be done at night. Vacationers could sleep in their car as the car took them to their next destination.  When they awoke, they would be there.

Walking would be convenient.  There are times when we would love to walk, but we have to go somewhere that might be too far to walk, or we have too much to take, or it might rain. With self-driving cars we could walk anyway, and when it came time to get to our destination, or when the weather turned sour, the car could come pick us up. And if we are within walking distance of our location but have too much to take, well, the car could take it while we walk.

 

And I’m sure there are many more potential advantages.  Can you think of any?

 

And there are, of course, possible problems.  In my next post I will discuss some of them.  But before I do, what possible problems can you see?

I don’t see problems as obstacles, but rather as challenges.  I believe that the above benefits make this change in our lifestyles extremely positive, and I believe that we can solve any potential side-effect. But first, we have to recognize what they are.

Tell me what you think they might be, and we’ll see if we can come up with solutions before they become real issues…

First, if you haven’t seen it, watch this…

Far fewer accidents of all types,

no more elderly having to give up their keys,

rush-hour, road rage, perhaps on the endangered species list,

what other benefits can you imagine?

 

And what might be the problems?

 

And… alternate uses?

Baby carriages that follow behind mother without having to be pushed?

Homecare caddies for the handicapped?

Can you think of anymore?

 

If the driverless car takes off, it will change the world.

Pitch your possibilities and your cautions here.

I have worked extensively in the arts, with Symphony Orchestras, museums, art celebrations, conferences, retreats, and more. I am always looking for new things to do with art. Most of the time, however, what I come up with is utterly ridiculous. But then again, so are some of the ways of creating art that have actually been accepted as serious art. So, who knows? (Dada? Genius!)

Here are a few ideas I have had.  What ideas can you come up with? Who knows? Maybe you’ll change the face of art forever.

 

Antiart–describe what you didn’t create (or Non-performance art–describe what you didn’t do.)

Art to wrap yourself around, made for touching, physically interacting with–kind of like furniture, but for unique physical experience, not for comfort.

Arrange the address on your letters or envelopes in some graphic form. Give the post office both an aesthetic and logistical challenge.

While sun is shining, lay a large piece of white paper under a tree or bush, trace where the light is.  Or, put a canvas under a bush, pour paints on the bush, it drips on the canvas.

Tease alligator with a board or log, alligator bites log, tears it up–alligator sculpture.

Glue different colored ants into an ant collage.

Create a work of art from the craters careful created by dropping bombs.

Spirals and other designs on things shot or thrown so that when they are shot or thrown it looks psychedelic.

Space paint ball–ship full of various paints shot at moon or Mars or asteroid. Ship explodes right above the surface and spreads the paint all over.

Artistically designed diapers. “Pooblo Peecassos” (Or training pants–“Vincent Van Gogh Potty”)

Balloons with interesting, colorful images that look more and more funny as they get blown up.

Carefully cut banana peels–bananagami?

Half peel bananas, carve the banana into an interesting sculpture.

Paint the exteriors of buildings so they look like something they’re not, like the natural surroundings, or just interesting. Could paint a whole block of buildings to look like a mountain range, a forest, space, anything weird.

Artistically colored baseball bats.

Local artists commissioned to artistically paint bus and park benches, or to paint the benches in themes appropriate to the community.

Art made just from fruit and berry juices, and other smashed or liquefied foods.

Bicycle spokes designed so as they spin, they make Psychedelic spirals or other interesting designs.

Boats painted to look like sea creatures or other things that would be fun and funny to see floating on the water.

Paint the inside of a bottle so that the art can be seen from the outside without being touched, and just to impress others.

Float cereal in the milk in your bowl.  Maneuver the cereal bits into designs.

Use techniques in clay shrinking design to construct bread loaves with interesting designs.

Arrange normal breakfast items on a large plate to create a work of art.

Designs that could be created in the walls of houses just be using bricks of different designs and textures.

Light bulbs of interesting colors and textures that cast different colors and designs.

Paint individual kernels of corn with different colors to make a design on the cob.  Can then be eaten.

In a place where there will be a big crowd, mark places on the ground where  people can walk, so that from the sky the flow of traffic makes an interesting design.

Curtains designed so that seen from the outside they make faces, or scenes, or weird scenes of the inside that couldn’t possibly be.

A dictionary where all the definitions are in verse, or poetry.

Dyes poured in draining water so that it swirls into an interesting design.

Drumheads with fun designs and artistic images.

Ear makeup.

Fan blades designed so when they swirl they make interesting designs.

Garage doors with rotating panels that are painted so that when they rotate they show different pictures or images.

Rotating globes, like world globe, except they’re artistically designed spheres. They might make interesting designs as they rotate.

Buy an island, landscape the whole thing so that from the air it looks really                     interesting.

Different colors/flavors of jam painted on to toast.  Or maybe also use peanut butter and other spreads.

Leaves raked into an artistic design.

Library shelves with book spines positioned to make interesting designs or pictures.

Plan a city park so that from the air it’s an interesting design or piece of art.

Penguins arranged on an ice flow into an interesting shape.

Roof tiles arranged on roof to make interesting designs or messages, or maybe color-         changing tiles that can change according to instructions, so you can tell the roof what       signs to have.  Also, the same with bricks on the side of the house.

Screens on screen doors–see-through designs

Paint stairs so that they look like those folding art pieces, where when you look at it from one angle you see one thing, look at it from another you see something else.

 

When I want to create new types of something, one of my favorite approaches is just to add a random noun to the idea I want to create and see what I come up with.

Here are some new types of playground equipment and activities I have come up with.  See if you can invent new playground equipment.  Post your ideas in the comments section.  You might change the way children play forever!

 

bag–Bag swing.  Bag has a zipper entrance.  Unzip the entrance, climb in, zip it back up, people push you. (Of course you need to be able to breathe, and get yourself out if you need to.)

bicycle–A bicycle built for several that goes along a circular track.  Kids get on, peddle, see how fast they can get the bicycle going.  (Can’t go too fast for safety’s sake.)

birdcage–What’s it like being in a zoo?  Several zoo habitats where the kids climb in and are the animals.  Other kids can pretend to be the spectators.

castle–A smaller replica of any famous castle or other building for kids to climb and play in.

caterpillar–Caterpillar body pieces, kids climb in them, stick their feet out to walk, hook up with the end of the caterpillar.  Have to follow the head.

 

Tell your creative friends about this blog.  Teachers and parents, I would love to see what your kids could come up with.

Subscribe to this blog so you won’t miss any fun challenges, or creative ideas that might help you in some way.

And if you have a creative challenge you would like to present, send it to me! I would love to tackle along with everyone else.

Over time, I will also talk a lot about the creative process. I guarantee that following this blog will make you a more creative person.