A Sat Nav without technology
In recent years Brian had made a living with a small business selling homeopathic and other New Age remedies. He had doubted the effectiveness of some of the “cures” but didn’t feel guilty. After all, they must have worked for many of his customers otherwise they would not have kept on buying them.
It wasn’t as though his remedies were the only ones that worked despite being scientifically dubious. Cognitive therapy was once twice as effective as it is today because it was initially hailed as a miracle cure and the placebo effect made it work because people believed in it. As its effectiveness came into question and more people stopped believing in it, it stopped working for them. This is nothing new, exactly the same reduction of effectiveness, for the same reasons, happened with psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud.
Now Brian had retired he wanted something to keep him active and, as the business had sold for a disappointingly low sum, hopefully bring in a bit more money. Why did there have to be such a rigid dividing line between science and superstition? Maybe there was money to be made there. After all, some people consider themselves as spiritual in nature and are averse to technology but would still like to have the benefits that only technology can provide. Sitting chanting “Om” is not going to guide you to your holiday hotel in Wales.
That was an idea! How about a spiritual Sat Nav? He could promote is as something better for us than the usual sort. The existence of electromagnetic signals has been linked to human health and other issues, the diminution of bee numbers due to phone signals for example, but Ley Lines have been around since the dawn of man and there are no proven ill effects. There are dowsing methods that are supposed to be able to find Ley Lines, so why not invent a device for a car that could follow them to a particular place? The road network is not an infinite set of straight lines from everywhere to everywhere else, so it would have to follow a complex series of linked Ley Lines. If there was no Ley Line that corresponded sufficiently with a road, perhaps there were alternative methods that could be used to adjust the path. Dowsing could also be used to detect water so perhaps a variation could distinguish a flat road surface from its surroundings in a similar way to modify the track.
He had been working on it for a while and it wasn’t nonsense! His dowsing sensors, thin strips on the inside of the steering wheel, allowed a driver to detect Ley Lines without impairing steering ability. Minor subconscious changes in grip drove the small pointer on the windscreen. So far though, the results had been rather disappointing. He had managed to find his way to a few local places but there had been far too many errors. General direction finding was good but navigation on longer, more complex routes was poor and often sent him up the wrong road if it went in roughly the right direction. It was hardly much better than a dashboard compass that you could get in Halfords for about ten quid.
There had to be some other alternative methods he could use, knowledge out there that he could draw upon to improve his tech-free Sat Nav. Something that saw beyond the limits of human sight. Fortune tellers were supposed to be able to inform you of major forthcoming events in your life, so, surely, they could tell you how to get to Doncaster. An old lady with a crystal ball sitting on the dashboard would rather impede your driving vision so he needed something less conspicuous, preferably invisible. Like a spirit, that could be it! He would modify the dowsing sensors on the steering wheel so they acted like a Ouija board and then he could ask members of the spirit world how to get to Doncaster.
It seemed to be working rather well. Before starting his journey, he stuck a short list of places he wanted to go to or pass through on the steering wheel sensors. By placing his thumbs on them in turn he was able to ask the spirit world how to get there. There always seemed to be some spirit available who knew the location and the direction was indicated by movement of the dashboard indicator that acted like a planchette, that sliding piece of wood on a Ouija board. In combination with the Ley line location it gave great results, probably as good as an expensive Sat Nav. A few tweaks were needed but he was in line to make some good money out of this.
It took a few more months and he was almost ready to start marketing his invention, it just needed one last rigorous test to ensure there were no bugs. It was nice weather for a holiday so he would use it on a drive to Edinburgh from his home in Sussex via a pre-planned meandering route, staying at various B&Bs on the way. He chose towns he had not been to before and deliberately avoided looking at any road maps to eliminate the possibility that a successful navigation was down to some subconscious effort by himself.
It was the last day and it had all worked great so far. He left the B&B at Berwick upon Tweed with no idea which road he wanted but his spirit Sat Nav guided him through the town to a main road signposted to Edinburgh. He was not familiar with the area but knew it was only an hour or two away. He had been driving for about half an hour when the spirit Sat Nav directed him off the main road. It seemed odd but he went with it. There had been a previous occasion when he had been directed onto a minor road and had found out later online that there had been major hold ups on the main road. The spirits could predict things that a normal Sat Nav could not. He drove on and then followed the directions onto an even smaller road that seemed to be going in the right general direction. Great! It was probably saving him from hours stuck in a traffic jam.
He began to have misgivings when he was directed onto a single-track road that looked more like a farm track than a public highway. Maybe he should have checked for a sign before turning onto it. He went on for another ten minutes before he had to stop. His spirit Sat Nav was directing him onto a barred muddy track and a sign saying, “Danger – quarry workings” He’d need his ordinary electronic Sat Nav to find his way back to the main road.
He reached for the glove compartment. Or tried to. He couldn’t move because he was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of terror that left him frozen in his seat. Too late he realised that he should have paid more attention to warnings about the dangers of using a Ouija board, how some of the spirits it attracted could be of an evil and malignant nature. Something had been using his invention to try and lead him to his death and it wasn’t going to give up now. His thoughts were clear but the parts of his mind that controlled his body were possessed and outside his control. His mind could do nothing as his limbs took control of the car and backed it up.
Then his foot went down hard on the accelerator and his heavy four-wheeler crashed through the barrier and roared towards the edge of the cliff surrounding the deep, disused quarry.
In recent years Brian had made a living with a small business selling homeopathic and other New Age remedies. He had doubted the effectiveness of some of the “cures” but didn’t feel guilty. After all, they must have worked for many of his customers otherwise they would not have kept on buying them.
It wasn’t as though his remedies were the only ones that worked despite being scientifically dubious. Cognitive therapy was once twice as effective as it is today because it was initially hailed as a miracle cure and the placebo effect made it work because people believed in it. As its effectiveness came into question and more people stopped believing in it, it stopped working for them. This is nothing new, exactly the same reduction of effectiveness, for the same reasons, happened with psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud.
Now Brian had retired he wanted something to keep him active and, as the business had sold for a disappointingly low sum, hopefully bring in a bit more money. Why did there have to be such a rigid dividing line between science and superstition? Maybe there was money to be made there. After all, some people consider themselves as spiritual in nature and are averse to technology but would still like to have the benefits that only technology can provide. Sitting chanting “Om” is not going to guide you to your holiday hotel in Wales.
That was an idea! How about a spiritual Sat Nav? He could promote is as something better for us than the usual sort. The existence of electromagnetic signals has been linked to human health and other issues, the diminution of bee numbers due to phone signals for example, but Ley Lines have been around since the dawn of man and there are no proven ill effects. There are dowsing methods that are supposed to be able to find Ley Lines, so why not invent a device for a car that could follow them to a particular place? The road network is not an infinite set of straight lines from everywhere to everywhere else, so it would have to follow a complex series of linked Ley Lines. If there was no Ley Line that corresponded sufficiently with a road, perhaps there were alternative methods that could be used to adjust the path. Dowsing could also be used to detect water so perhaps a variation could distinguish a flat road surface from its surroundings in a similar way to modify the track.
He had been working on it for a while and it wasn’t nonsense! His dowsing sensors, thin strips on the inside of the steering wheel, allowed a driver to detect Ley Lines without impairing steering ability. Minor subconscious changes in grip drove the small pointer on the windscreen. So far though, the results had been rather disappointing. He had managed to find his way to a few local places but there had been far too many errors. General direction finding was good but navigation on longer, more complex routes was poor and often sent him up the wrong road if it went in roughly the right direction. It was hardly much better than a dashboard compass that you could get in Halfords for about ten quid.
There had to be some other alternative methods he could use, knowledge out there that he could draw upon to improve his tech-free Sat Nav. Something that saw beyond the limits of human sight. Fortune tellers were supposed to be able to inform you of major forthcoming events in your life, so, surely, they could tell you how to get to Doncaster. An old lady with a crystal ball sitting on the dashboard would rather impede your driving vision so he needed something less conspicuous, preferably invisible. Like a spirit, that could be it! He would modify the dowsing sensors on the steering wheel so they acted like a Ouija board and then he could ask members of the spirit world how to get to Doncaster.
It seemed to be working rather well. Before starting his journey, he stuck a short list of places he wanted to go to or pass through on the steering wheel sensors. By placing his thumbs on them in turn he was able to ask the spirit world how to get there. There always seemed to be some spirit available who knew the location and the direction was indicated by movement of the dashboard indicator that acted like a planchette, that sliding piece of wood on a Ouija board. In combination with the Ley line location it gave great results, probably as good as an expensive Sat Nav. A few tweaks were needed but he was in line to make some good money out of this.
It took a few more months and he was almost ready to start marketing his invention, it just needed one last rigorous test to ensure there were no bugs. It was nice weather for a holiday so he would use it on a drive to Edinburgh from his home in Sussex via a pre-planned meandering route, staying at various B&Bs on the way. He chose towns he had not been to before and deliberately avoided looking at any road maps to eliminate the possibility that a successful navigation was down to some subconscious effort by himself.
It was the last day and it had all worked great so far. He left the B&B at Berwick upon Tweed with no idea which road he wanted but his spirit Sat Nav guided him through the town to a main road signposted to Edinburgh. He was not familiar with the area but knew it was only an hour or two away. He had been driving for about half an hour when the spirit Sat Nav directed him off the main road. It seemed odd but he went with it. There had been a previous occasion when he had been directed onto a minor road and had found out later online that there had been major hold ups on the main road. The spirits could predict things that a normal Sat Nav could not. He drove on and then followed the directions onto an even smaller road that seemed to be going in the right general direction. Great! It was probably saving him from hours stuck in a traffic jam.
He began to have misgivings when he was directed onto a single-track road that looked more like a farm track than a public highway. Maybe he should have checked for a sign before turning onto it. He went on for another ten minutes before he had to stop. His spirit Sat Nav was directing him onto a barred muddy track and a sign saying, “Danger – quarry workings” He’d need his ordinary electronic Sat Nav to find his way back to the main road.
He reached for the glove compartment. Or tried to. He couldn’t move because he was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of terror that left him frozen in his seat. Too late he realised that he should have paid more attention to warnings about the dangers of using a Ouija board, how some of the spirits it attracted could be of an evil and malignant nature. Something had been using his invention to try and lead him to his death and it wasn’t going to give up now. His thoughts were clear but the parts of his mind that controlled his body were possessed and outside his control. His mind could do nothing as his limbs took control of the car and backed it up.
Then his foot went down hard on the accelerator and his heavy four-wheeler crashed through the barrier and roared towards the edge of the cliff surrounding the deep, disused quarry.
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