Five Speed Manual: A Grouch's Case For Analog

I like being close to how things work. When the distance between me and them gets too wide for me touch them, I get anxious or wonky, or go to sleep, as in jet travel (piloting a jet is not an option open to me). The best-case scenario is knowing how things work because I have taken them apart and put them back together. I don't know how AI or wifi controls work and I don't yet know how to run algorithms. That's why all this self-driving this or household automatic that have me a bit on edge. I don't like the idea of a car driving me somewhere. I want to do that, to hear the sound of the engine run through its power band up to an optimal RPM and then to change gears. I feel more connected. My concerns about turning things over to digital control and AI comes from more that just wanting to do it myself; it comes from the vulnerability digital systems have to power outages, malfunctions, and hacking. Bright, young, computer whizzes love to figure things out and then to mess with them. As an old fart, I don't much appreciate that or want them messing with my shifter. So, I'll take mine analog, thank you. I'll roll up my own windows, lock my own doors, and decide how high I want to rev my own motor.