(c) John, Rekesh 2004-2008. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the author's permission
5. Car (Part 2)
Emma emerged from the wayside restaurant, feeling happy and refreshed. The storm had passed over and a cool breeze was blowing.
“Ah! That was good. You gotta love junk food!"
She was now in a mood to chatter as they started off again. Except for some occasional friction with Aliyah, the man had turned out to be pleasant company. Though he commonly used the name Thor, his real name was Theodore, and his friends called him Theo. But he consistently refused to give out any more personal information about himself. And that was maddening.
Emma had been hatching up a plan, and she decided to put it into action.
“Now look at that, Aliyah!” she laughed, pointing towards the horizon, where there was still some light left. “Doesn’t that cloud look like a flying duck? I suppose you’ll tell me now how your newfangled principle makes clouds resemble ducks!”
Aliyah laughed, too. Her train of thought had been sidetracked by their little adventure, but now she got to thinking about it all over again.
Theo suddenly showed interest.
“What principle?” he asked, turning to look at Aliyah.
“Uh, nothing really! Emma is just having fun.” she replied.
“Oh, no!” Emma replied. “Aliyah likes to connect clouds with human nature, storms with human nature, deserts with human nature, in fact everything with human nature.”
“That sounds interesting,” Theo replied thoughtfully. “Why do you call it a ‘principle’ ?”
“Well, there are some interesting relationships we found. When you keep seeing the same pattern multiple times, it could mean that there is some principle behind it.” Aliyah was now getting academic.
“Patterns? What patterns?” Theo’s interest seemed genuine.
“So far, so good,” Emma said to herself and then continued loudly. “While you two go crazy about it, let me check the traffic situation in the city. We don’t want to get stuck for hours in traffic, not if I can help it.”
Emma turned on the radio and tuned to a station while Aliyah and Theo talked. The radio coughed and sputtered and the sound came intermittently, broken with noise and squeals. She tried tuning the station repeatedly.
“Dammit,” she finally cried out, banging her palm on the radio. “Reception is pretty poor. I am sure I received it well the last time we came through here.”
“Perhaps your Beetle needs her antennae fixed,” joked Aliyah.
“And perhaps you need yours fixed!” retorted Emma. “The way they seem to drag you to these creepy places.”
They both laughed, but Aliyah stopped short as a thought struck her.
“Hey Emma! Why do cars resemble insects or even animals? Don’t you see that they are built to give such an appearance with eyes, mouth, and maybe a snout? The four wheels are like four legs, the rear-view mirrors resemble ears, there is a main body that corresponds to the trunk …” She stopped short, and then added “There’s even a gluteus maximus.”
“You mean ass, don’t you?” Emma burst out laughing. “Well, you’re right. I hadn’t noticed that before.”
It seemed that what Aliyah said was true. Her car and most others did have structures that resembled animals. The grill, the headlights, the windshield, tires, side-view mirrors, doors, even the antenna. That was very curious.
“Now that you mention it, there is a kind of correspondence to animals there. I suppose it is a self-expression by the designers.” Emma laughed again, and then paused, “I know what you are saying. You are asking how there exists an analogy between cars and animals without a common principle. Well, I don’t know. It looks like there is no explanation other than the influence of a creative mind.”
“Well, I think the creative influence is pretty strong there.” Theo entered the discussion. “But then I don’t think car designers have any conscious desire to make them so.”
He paused, reflected and then continued, “Your car does have bodily systems similar to an animal’s, doesn’t it? There is a skeletal system that holds everything together. There is a muscular system for movement composed of the gears, pistons, transmission and wheels. And there is a digestive system too, ingesting gasoline and converting it into energy.”
“Could he be a mechanic?” Aliyah wondered to herself.
“And quite costly food too, the way gas prices are soaring,” laughed Emma.
But this was something unexpected. There indeed was some kind of correspondence there, which was more than skin-deep. In addition to a digestive system, there was an excretory system of exhaust gases. Emma tried to recollect her college biology. There was the human nervous system, but was there an analogue in the car?
She didn’t want to ask Theo, so she asked Aliyah. But it was Theo who responded.
“Yes, there is. There are many feedback control and correction systems within the car, to regulate speed, and control braking and traction. Now with computers on board, you really do have a proper autonomic nervous system. Your steering wheel and pedals for braking and acceleration are part of the car’s nervous system too. Only its nerves are wires and cables. But what it lacks is a conscious brain, which is, of course, provided by you, the driver.”
“I wonder how much that contributes,” replied Aliyah meaningly. She did not like the way Emma had set her up.
“Well, I don’t have to be an intellectual. Looking nice and pretty is my thing,” Emma laughed again.
“So is your car,” Aliyah observed. “You take good care of its integumentary system. If you don’t know what that is, it refers to the skin. Your car has a beautiful skin, and even a theft deterrent sensor on it.”
Emma obviously liked the analogy, for she laughed hard.
Then she thought of something else. “But animals breathe. Cars don’t,” she objected.
“Hmm, that’s true. But wait...” replied Theo this time, “The combustion in the engine requires oxygen doesn’t it? That’s the same thing that happens in our cells when we breathe. Oxygen releases the energy held in sugars. In the car, it releases energy held in the fuel. And there’s more! Aren’t both gasoline and sugars carbon- and hydrogen-based? Gasoline is based on hydrocarbons. And our food is mostly carbohydrates! The energy driving the body is indeed taken from breaking down carbon and hydrogen chains. And both the body and the car release carbon dioxide and water as waste! So you see, the car does breathe like us!"
“He can’t be a mechanic,” Aliyah said to herself.
“Well, that’s not quite the bodily chemistry that I am used to!” laughed Emma. “But I must say it is pretty curious. Hmm. Now it’s almost like I am riding an animal. I suppose that’s how it would appear to a caveman.”
“Yes, indeed,” breathed Aliyah. “But why?”
She puzzled for a while as she analyzed the correspondence. Was there a deeper principle at work that provided a common ground? She thought of what Emma had said. To a caveman, a moving car would indeed look like a live animal. But the similarity was not just in the appearance, but in its systems too.
Then something clicked, and she found it very curious!