Foresight and Hindsight Need Not Be Just Concepts

They can be real abilities - bolstered by practical hardware. And you can afford to buy it from Camera Electronic. Well, you can afford to buy Nextbase dash and rear-view cameras. They are most often fitted to cars or trucks to record who hits you from the front or the rear of your vehicle. Be aware that the cameras and recording circuits inside them are not human - they are not judgemental and they cannot be your friends. If you are the person who runs into other vehicles - front or rear - they will record that fact just as surely. They gather evidence and can probably be compelled to disclose it if need be. The best way to ensure that this is not harmful to you is to not run into or over other people. The advertising information on the back of the packaging is straight-forward enough - the cameras see widely before and behind and can run for extended periods of time. They can be voice-controlled by Alexa mechanisms for various functions while you keep your hands on the wheel. They will start recording if your car is run into while parked and you are not there. Whether this will do so with a small side impact like those from doors at the local shopping centre is another matter. I've no idea about that. That would seem the most use we'll get out of it, but whether the cameras can see who did it or not is uncertain. And if they do, they bring up the next question: Whadda ya gonna do about it? Or, if it is a more blatant rear-ender from some tailgating hoon, add " Mate " or " Pal " at the end of the question. And what indeed? I've seen a number of Facebook reports of road ragers rear-ending people with very little follow-up justice. Presumably the video evidence would play some part in determining guilt in a court of law, but unless there is a lot of damage and a lot of violence, most of these things never get there. That's discouraging but that's the truth. People do get away with it. The side-door impact is even less likely to get justice. I parked at the side of the road in front of the Stirling Street shop a decade ago and some fool turning from the center bays sideswiped my ute - in the middle of a body panel. The insurance covered it, the excess was awful, and even this sort of camera might not have done any good. I say we start selling lengths of 5-inch channel iron that you bolt onto the outside of the doors...with the U-shape outwards. Open your door on that, mate...