If ever there was an example of human folly in the face of impending catastrophe, surely this is it.
Everybody must have looked at the technology in their pockets or homes and wondered just how necessary it actually was at some point or other. Cars are many times smarter than the vehicles which allegedly took men to the moon but hardly improve our lives as the more technologically advanced they become, the more they malfunction and the more stress they cause. Let's face it, we don't need cars which can be controlled remotely by iPad so that we can manoeuvre it through a gate, which we get out of the car to open, to save having to get back into it for a few seconds before getting out to shut the gate - the only reason so far put forward in promotions for the newest Land Rover Discovery prototypes. The geek's wet dream is the necessity of the marketeers to find innovative crap to appeal to the consumers with the right amount of money available.
Nobody wants a straightforward reliable car anymore because that would throw a spanner in the works of the sacred economy and the Land Rover brand amply illustrates this - second hand low tech Land Rover Defenders sell for approximately twice as much as Land Rover Discovery models of the same age.
So, back to the goldfish; why, when there are countless issues which need resolving on this slowly collapsing planet, does anybody think it a worthy investment of time and money to invent a device which allows a goldfish to steer a toy car? Why?
No doubt, there will be a PR guru on hand at some future point to explain the benefits to mankind. I remember vividly hearing that the technological advances gained from the investment into the the Apollo program would help to end world hunger - even as a nine year old, I was scratching my head wondering how to phrase the obvious question to ask my oracle at that age, my Dad.
And for once, big corporations and governments can't be pilloried - this project was crowdfunded through Kickstarter; the idiocy of democratic enterprise.
According to historical myth (a deliberate oxymoron, before you start writing), Nero fiddled whilst Rome burned. In this democratised age we will all fiddle; some with computerised cars with all round smart glass, drive by wire and virtual transparent bodywork and others with empty bean cans.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27241688
