In the Face of History

Scott Casey :  Scott has written “Ghostkeepers” a book about his years as a gun toting truck driver while serving as a Canadian Peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia.
Posted By Scott Casey : Scott has written “Ghostkeepers” a book about his years as a gun toting truck driver while serving as a Canadian Peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia. On 2020-03-10 07:28:25

There is a known phrase I've been coining a lot lately. And it rings more prevalent every day as our world races at break-neck speed along the racetrack of technological innovations.


"There are two things people hate most, change, and the way things are."


Human beings are like water. Without any thought at all, but forced by nature, they seek out the easiest route forward. Since the creation of the wheel, humans have strived to make their lives easier through technological innovations. The path to inventions was paved with the desire to achieve great things with the least amount of effort. Long gone are the washtubs and washboards, now replaced by washers and dryers that you can start or stop from another province simply by using your cellular phone.


From working in the fields cutting, raking and piling crops up in stukes, to autonomous GPS guided combines harvesting sections of land in a few days.


And no different than when thieves would raid a warehouse of its goods, concerns of technology-based security threats are daily dialogue in boardrooms around the world. The ability for systems to be hacked is on every companies mind and they spend an enormous amount of money on mitigating those possible breaches. And let's face it, if the system of the US presidency can be hacked, anything can be.


So as we move towards autonomous transportation systems it doesn't exactly leave any of us with a warm fuzzy feeling.


A concern I have been mulling over, is technology moving faster than the first cloning of a sheep in its moral obligation to society?


Like that first cell reproduction, we must have cheques and balances in place to ensure that autonomous vehicles and their systems - but not limited to - are truly compatible with the basic requirements of society. Other considerations should also be addressed. Including, when drivers are replaced by a vacant cab, where will the tax revenue that was formerly collected by those employees come from? Should the companies employing the technology be accountable to the federal government for the tax loss? How will the employee replaced by a network system of lanes, permissions, and communications systems, continue to feed his or her family?

Working in an autonomous environment currently, I have witnessed how valuable this technology can be. What it provides for in safety and productivity. And in that I continue to be a proponent for technology whilst improving conditions in the work environment for my fellow employees and staff alike.


It has also given me the opportunity to listen to the concerns of the working person. The uncertainty and often confused mindset left behind by poor employer to employee communication and the ever-popular rumour mill.


This is exactly where the lines of socio-economic development, technology, and social interaction find themselves in a vortex of possibilities, conundrums, and instability.


If Western society is going to benefit from these vast technological changes as a whole, then the communication and education that is required must become as ingrained as the transportation industry is in our daily lives.


Our greatest asset in this world is people, not technology. Because without people, technology serves no purpose. Are we ready, or better yet are we really prepared to have a day to day interaction between robot tractor trailers and the common driving and non-driving public?
Which leads me to the final phrase that stands in the face of history, whether it was a horse-drawn cart or a shiny 18 wheeler, "If you bought it, a trucker brought it."


Previous Blogs

Bella Coola by Glen Mallard

Hole in One by Dave Madill

On The Wrong Road by John Maywood

Wildlife by Colin Black

On the Road Again by Myrna Chartrand...

Cooking Class by Scott Casey

Know Your Limits by Ed Murdoch...

2020 Vision by Greg Evasiuk...

Jokes

With 35 years of combined publishing experience, you will see this unique and much improved trucking magazine called Pro Trucker Driver's Choice Magazine

Getting Started

Lawful Torture

Little Star

It's Now Or Never

Winter Blues

Sheep

The First Time

Let's Block the Road!

In the Face of History

Human Trafficing

Nature’s Child

Distracted Driving

WE EXIST TO ASSIST

The Virus

"What do you look forward to?"

“Fuel Tanks”

You want me to go where?

From Zero to Hero to Zero

ELD’s and Speed Limiters – Are They Really Safe?

The Dream (July 2005)

The Lonesome Camaraderie of the Transportation Industry

Strange Times

Lockdown Toilets

Life goes on

The Czech Invasion.

A Steep Learning Curve

Fools Casting Calls

We Are All In This Together

How to get Time Off

A New Year

Added Benefits of Trucking

An ill Wind

Loving the Road

Insecure Loads

Memories

All Things Shiny and New

B-Trains

The Good Ol’ Days

Cold Trip

Brexit

A Moment’s Distraction

Have or Have not

Music and Me

Travels With Ringo

Distracted Driver

Changes

ELDs, Roads and Covid

Female of The Species

The Switch

Flood of 60

Crimes Against Humanity

Training Hours

In the Truck’s Clutches

Attitude & Altitude

Wide Open Spaces (and closed in places)

Trucking is a Trade

A night to remember

Loading Heavy Equipment

CLIMATE CHANGE & TRUCKING

Truck Routes

Then and Now

Attitude & Altitude

A Girl Just Wants to Have Fun…

The Weekend!

Unity

How I Write

In The Beginning Part 3

Tires and Unions

Stay Safe

My Rant…

Isolation

I learned a New Trick

It ain’t the years - it’s the miles.

It’s Time, Gentlemen, Time

Coincidences

The Brain

Blind Man's Buff

Editor's Note

The Flitting

Eastbound

What I Did This Summer

Pictures

Adventure

Show Ready

Trolls

Big Rig Weekends

Love and Trucking

Books and Covers

Like a Boss

It's a Wonderful World

Common Sense By Glen “The duck” Millard

Dad meets a “Bear.”

All Experience isn’t Good Experience…

The Weather Outside is Frightful…

Common Sense

Bad Breaks and Good Luck

Driving Through My Memories for January/February 2023

Service???

Time to Reset!

Halcyon Days of Trucking

All Experience…

The Piggy Bus Encounter

Sports and Life Lessons

Winter Storms

Humboldt Tragedy_MELT program

Driving Through My Memories

On The Road Again

Wait Over Weight

I Write

Elliot Lake

The Good (?) Old Trucks

Canadian and Proud of it

Six Cans for Buffalo Joe

Monkeys and Peanuts

Safety First

30? 60? 90? Late Pay

Nothing New

Technology

Has anything changed?

Holidays - Then Back To The Grind.

Old Trucker Troubles

Loose Moose

Some of the Trucks I've Seen

The Last Ride

Cold Load Home

Make it a Holiday

Winter Wonderland Trucking

Thinning the Herd

Just Be There…

And to All, a Good Night!

Dumb and Dumber

Helping Out in a Clutch

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

Driver Retention Matters_ New Volvo VNL