OODA loops

I was just thinking, this sale of my truck has gotten into my OODA loop.

The OODA loop (for observe, orient, decide, and act) is a concept originally applied to the combat operations process, often at the strategic level in military operations. It is now also often applied to understand commercial operations and learning processes. The concept was developed by military strategist and USAF Colonel John Boyd.

The big advantage to having an automobile is the time savings of the machines.  It isn't good enough to have a bus or mass transit, because cars are just plain faster.  Even in bad traffic, cars are faster.  I found out about this in 2004, when I went without a vehicle for about 6 months.  I got "cabin fever".  I wanted the freedom of that automobile- so even though I didn't own one, I kept finding reasons to rent one.

Well, anyway, not having one slows you down.  But by knowing this, getting in a traffic jam didn't bother me so much in recent years.  I thought, even though this takes me an hour, a bus trip will take two!  I could feel grateful for having the opportunity for having a car, because it saved so much time.  And time is precious. Time is money.

But this OODA loop thing is another aspect of the problem.  You tend to lose track of things a bit easier if you get distracted by one thing or another.  The longer gaps in time- in order to do simple tasks when you have an auto as compared to not having one- will prove to be such a distraction.  I have to fight that as time goes forward, because not having a car will take up more time for these tasks, and, consequently, I'll have less time for other things.  Like this blog.

 It's like flying a slower jet than your adversary.  He has more maneuverability, so he has the advantage.  That gets into your OODA loop, and makes your task more difficult.  Not that you can't win.  You can be smarter than your opponent and still beat him, even if he does have an advantage in speed.

This is why I've changed my attitude about automobiles.  I used to think of them as somewhat of a problem. But now I think differently, due to the fact that not having them made me appreciate them more.  Thus, the need to come up with a newer way to power the automobile.  Fossil fuels are not going to be as plentiful as we would like, so their cost is just going to keep going up and up.  Now, this problem is going to need a solution, because if it gets too expensive, the middle class will not be able to afford them anymore.

I figure the enemy is time.  Everybody gets older.  You want to do more and more with the time you have. Having a car can allow you to do that.  It is better than not having one.  Trust me on that.