Testing Reality

When I was 16 years old (more than half a life ago) I got a drivers license from a country cop shop (Translation: police station). I got there just before lunch time so they gave me the "quick test" (drive around the block and do a hill start). This was in a village of 700 souls and one main road (no traffic lights, no give way signs, no pedestrian crossings...you get the picture), For the last two months I have been trying to obtain a driving license in Sweden (by necessity not choice) and it is nothing like Goombungee. This morning I again trudged off at 7:45am (there were so many people on the bus that early...They had my sympathy) to sit another test for the theory of driving. I failed and it was my fault. I find reading about road rules very boring. Plus as a text the English version of the manual for diving is somewhat lacking in narrative. How am I supposed to be able to calculate the combined trailer weight for a blah blah blah. Which leads me to the comfort I took from Will Wright earlier this evening:

"In an era of structured education and standardized testing, this generational difference might not yet be evident. But the gamers' mindset - the fact that they are learning in a totally new way - means they'll treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption. This is the true impact videogames will have on our culture."
Dream Machines
(Will Wright is the guest editor for this month's Wired Magazine!)

When I look at the pictures for the question in the theory text for the Swedish drivers license I ask myself "But how the hell did I get myself in such a situation in the first place?" I cannot for the life of me imagine not having access to the relevant information (Translation: Help Function) if I should so need it in regards to trailer weights, season for winter tires, the month for vehicle inspection etc etc etc. That's why God gave us the internet! If I do need to make a split second decision during driving I am not going to learn it out of a book. It is a matter of practice. Maybe it would be a bit reckless to treat driving as a creative act, but the problem I have is with the text, not the reality.

Finally a tip: for those living on the Swedish peninsular tomorrow night on SVT1:
"Over 600 000 Swedes download music and film from the internet without paying for it. Society will legislate against the illegal file dowloading. But what happens then with the gowing multimillion dollar industry which either directly or indirectly survives because of file sharing? Mission Investigate's reporter Nadja Yllner has met the combatats in the pirate struggle to see if there appears to be any sort of reconciliation going on." (Translation: roughly done by me)
Uppdrag Granskning Tisdag 11 april, 20.00, SVT1.