Note from Underground #7
New York’s new subway trains are cleaner, sleeker, brighter, and quieter versions of their veteran counterparts. The yellow and orange colors of decay and dying (think of Autumn) have given way to the hygienic gray and silver of the future, a Winter of Content!
The new trains are also one step closer to being self-aware machines ready to kill us all. They speak.
The older trains, of course, have human conductors that announce the current and next stops, the train and its destination, even if they pull a Fenster and mumble through the whole thing.
The city’s new AI trains seem downright educated, being polite and informative and enunciating clearly.
What throws me is that each speaks in two voices – a woman’s, and a man’s. The woman’s voice gives station information, this is…, the next stop is…, and so forth. Then, when she’s done filling us in, the male’s voice, authoritative and melodic, orders us all to “Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors, Please!!”
The good cop/bad cop mentality has spread to mass transit. The calming, motherly figure builds up our confidence by telling us little stories, a bit about how the world works, keeping us calm by telling us where we are and where we’re going. The father figure then throws in his two cents, tossing his weight around, telling us what to do and what not to do. He says “please,” but his commands has already been given and for us the soothing female voice is already a far memory.
In the eyes of the MTA, we are all children.
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