Three boaters in Michigan are alive after they placed a 911 call from a wireless handset while underwater. The Coast Guard, County Sheriff's dive team and the local Fire Department were able to rescue the men after receiving the call. The men were in a submerged cabin of a sailboat that flipped over. All three were treated for mild hypothermia. (Source: NBC News Detroit) "
The wireless tabloids are full of entertaining cell phone banter today - help! bubble bubble! underwater! bubble bubble!
But seriously, not so long ago, New York Times ran an op ed on how adding wireless access in national parks made rangers worry that everyone would call them about a twisted ankle or a bad bruise. That may be true, but I know many people who would have appreciated this ability as they had to crawl with broken/twisted ankles or knees out of the backcountry of various kinds. Yet the article made another interesting point - would cell phones provide a "safety blanket" both giving a false sense of security (I can be rescued anywhere, so I can do stupid things anywhere now!) while providing valuable leg up on the elements in life-threatening situations. I onwder, would they? Would they allow people who are scared of leaving the civilization safety perimeter, finally venture a little bit out into the wilderness? (this is relevant to the Amerca's but not to Europe really). Will that increase injuries and accidents, prompting a rushed attempt to protect people from themselved by the government through regulation? Will it really help save lives? not in hard core mountaineering maybe (although there have been examples of that in less remote locations), but something more mild, rock climbing for example, or hiking or even boating? This tether to civilization that we have, that we may perceive as an extension of ourselves, that we willingly carry around, how much of a trade off between safety, security, privacy, freedom will it be? Hearing a phone ring 200 feet off the ground on a piece of rock is a little bit disconcerting, even if somehow amusing. Will we still be able to find places where solutide and silence are punctuated only by thunder and cries of birds and not cell phone rings? Will we have to go deeper into the wilderness for that now?
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