When I drive down the highway, I observe the number of trucks that pass by and in a way I feel sorry for their drivers. Although people may think that their job is easy, that is far from the case. While it may seem like sitting in a comfortable chair and spinning the wheels in front of you, it is a grueling job filled with constant attention and thought about how to plan a trip properly and the time spent on it.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been in the cab of a modern truck like that, but if you haven’t, you should. This is a very well designed studio apartment, where you can stay for a very long time and, above all, comfortably. The progress in this regard is palpable, and anyone who remembers LIAZ long-haul trucks from the past will surely feel here not like in another world, but like on a completely different planet. Comfy bed, fridge, independent AC and heating, cooking facilities. This is one of the many reasons why there are so few motels and hotels around the highway. In short, drivers don’t need them because they carry everything.

But what I also often notice is another by-product of progress. Some trucks don’t have a large cover where the mirror is hidden, but a small bracket where the camera is hidden. And here we are at simplicity and complexity, because the question is immediately presented. What is the point? Replace the mirror for a few crowns with a camera for a few thousand? To take something as simple as a mirror and replace it with something so complex and, above all, with something much more likely to break? I love progress, but replacing a few tens of square centimeters of glass with a camera and screen seems like a complete waste of effort, ideas and money. At the same time, the results are no better, the results with that camera are the same as those of the mirror – that is, the driver sees what is happening around and behind him.

Well, another question that always comes to my mind with this new highway ship is did I also do something unnecessarily complicated in the trade and did I accidentally replace something simple and functional with something that should bring the same result, but it’s complicated and it doesn’t make sense. I always tell myself that one day I don’t want to be stupid if someone who understands and who is more successful than me sees my procedure. That’s why I try to think of simplicity and complexity, and I think that even complicated machines like the shuttle certainly use simple solutions.

Michal Uma

PS And you know what? Maybe that’s the biggest idea in the world that I haven’t come up with.