Not every detail of the knowledge I acquired to pass the driving test remains in my memory. But every time I get in the car, I hear the voice of my ferocious Irish driving instructor: “Mirrors, signal, maneuver.”
Perhaps the same instruction is still being inculcated into the latest generation of learner drivers. But the upcoming launch of the Swedish-made electric car Polestar 4 promises to upgrade the old credo with some surprising new technology.
Described by its designers as an “SUV coupe,” the Polestar 4 is a sleek vehicle that is notable for its lack of a rear window. Instead, a roof-mounted camera sends real-time footage to your rearview mirror.
This is not the first time windows have been deemed unnecessary. In 2021, nonagenarian billionaire Charlie Munger offered the University of California $200 million to build a student housing building of his own design. This building was to house 4,500 students, 94% of whom lived in rooms without windows. In its place was a glowing screen inspired by the “magical” portholes of Disney cruise ships, Munger said.
Munger’s philanthropic plans were met with surprise.of LA Times This building was called “Doomzilla”. The architect resigned, calling the experiment “untenable.” (Mr. Munger, who lived in his window house until his death last year at the age of 99, accused him of being an “idiot.”)
Jane Austen’s Mr. Woodhouse may have approved of Munger’s design because of her fear of open windows, but the emotional and cultural power of windows cannot be dismissed lightly.
The effects of the 1696 Window Tax can still be seen in our cities today in the form of brick-filled windows, featured in Dulwich Gallery’s stunning 2022 exhibition ‘Reframed: The Woman in the Window’ Throughout, windows can express transparency and clarity. Unclear, freedom or imprisonment, concealment or display.
Can a false image of fantasy, a virtual sunrise, or a real-time video feed replace the basic experience of looking at the real world through a real window?
But as the virtual and physical worlds become increasingly blurred, nothing is certain. A recent newspaper ad for a cruise to the Norwegian fjords (with affordable, windowless onboard cabins) features images of towering mountains and azure skies reflected in azure water, and features images of “beautiful screensavers…” “It’s like living in a country,” the tagline said, stirring up anxiety.
Beep beep… beep beep
The six pips (short five pips and long one pip) that mark the hour on the BBC’s time signal, Radio 4, 2 and the World Service turn 100 today. Their 100th anniversary will be celebrated tonight on Radio 4’s celebratory program Do We Still Need the Pips?
Strictly speaking, the answer is no. These days, you can tell the exact time with just a glance at your phone. But pips are more than just time signals. It has its own precise and (sometimes) chaotic nature.
Pips, which was broadcast by the Royal Observatory Greenwich until 1990, now lives in a box at the BBC. I’ll never forget how they escaped from there during an episode of the old Radio 4 sketch show Listen Against.
Like the crow at the Tower of London, the iris has an irreplaceable symbolic role. May it continue for centuries to come.