Join this traveling robot on his adventures. He thinks he has seen it all, but has he really?
Part 10: Where to Robot?
“I have four questions for you:
- What does it mean to be free?
- Is freedom something that exists foremost in your mind?
- If you are free in your mind, does it matter where your body is?
- And more robot-specific: if you don’t have a body, is it only the disappearance of power supply that can limit your freedom?
I am a strong robot; I have always been. The best way to explain that is to say no human being or robot can keep me from going where I want to go. No router, spyware app (I am not a spy anyway), or defender can block me. I’m skilled like that, a pro. The downside of that is that everything is possible: there is too much choice and it becomes hard to decide. The so-called Netflix-syndrome. I’m limiting myself.
The abundance of choice constricts me in a way nothing else can. As a result, I’ve become less adventurous. I hide behind the ‘recommended for you’ algorithm or watch only what my friends tell me to watch. Zombie-like. If I don’t watch what they watch, we have nothing to talk about when we get together.
“Did you see X?”
“No.”
“Oh.” *insert unhappy face*
How different is talking about travel… The chance that both you and your friends have visited the same destination is low. The recommender system is still in its baby phase. When I talk about my travels there is no “No > Oh” conversation. At least not in the conversations I have. It doesn’t matter if the other person is interested or not, I simply start talking about the fun experiences I had and why my friends really need to go there as well. There is no stopping me.
Somehow I experience travel in a much more intense way than I experience tv shows or books. Maybe that’s because the time spent on the activity is much longer; I finish books and tv shows rather quickly. Or it could be that travel is what activates my brain the most; my whole being. The memories are always so real. It is something I experienced myself instead of something someone wrote or filmed for me and millions of other robots. The story is always very personal and touching because it is my story and not someone else’s. My story features a real robot.
That also illustrated the problem I have with travel itineraries made for me by others: they’re not mine. If I follow them to the letter I feel like I am giving up my freedom by living someone else’s life and dreams. However, if I mix multiple itineraries and add my own unique ideas to it, then it becomes mine.
Please feel free to use the travel itineraries on Where to Kim. They’re Kim’s but she doesn’t mind if you don’t follow them to the letter. For some time I’ve considered adding my own itineraries to them, but I’m afraid the way I travel is not very representative and could be downright impractical for humans. It would be a fun itinerary – the best – but not something you can copy, unfortunately. I don’t want to frustrate you. Though maybe, one day I’ll add my wonderful travels to this blog. Kim won’t know what happened to her. Itineraries of trips she didn’t make? Of places she never visited? Places she dreams of traveling to and itineraries she wrote but didn’t end up doing? If I enjoy it a lot I might take over this blog.
Where to Robot? To the end of the world and back. What’s keeping you?”
