Why can’t we just stop using our expertise? Sure, we’ve always done things that way, and yes, it works, but why not just stop? I tried this with ironing a few years ago. I have to purchase “wrinkle-resistant” clothes now, and my fashion statement is more Bernie than Hillary. I won’t be a candidate for celebrity seating at the Four Seasons, nor will I be offered employment at Goldman Sachs. But it sort of works. Just lower your expectations.

Like much of my countrymen, I have set aside my current reading this week to peruse Fire and Fury. Running the United States of America is another thing one can ad lib,  resulting in many unfilled government jobs, such as West Wing receptionist. When you arrive for your WW appointment, a military cadet will check you off a list and admit you, after which you can wander freely through the offices of POTUS.

Receptionists not only greeted visitors, they also answered phones, a function performed today by auto-attendants. These technology triumphs reduce employment and increase the amount of time callers spend on the phone seeking information. I don’t call to find information readily available on the Internet. I call because I need to speak to a person. As soon as the robotic voice starts intoning, I alternate between pressing 0 and saying “Agent” or “Representative.” Some of the auto-attendants give up easily, while others argue for a quite a while.

Speaking of technology, I’ve given up on living long enough to get a jet pack, but where are the self-driving cars? I haven’t seen a single self-driving car since I moved to California, even though I spend a lot of time driving up and down Silicon Valley–three hours this past weekend, for example. I hear there are truck convoys–lorry platoons, in the UK–with an active human driver in the first truck only, though the idea is still being tested. Even self-following must be technology whose time has not come.

Meanwhile, most human truck drivers in the US now find themselves part of the gig economy, assigned to cargos on an as-needed basis by an Uber-like app. Eliminating jobs with benefits and security is a good way to eliminate expertise, except for Millennials, who seem inexplicably willing to work for free.

My darting from thought to thought was also inspired by Fire and Fury, though it’s not a very good imitation. I actually think in complete sentences, and can’t help making a connection when moving from one idea to the next.