Adventures in the RP

Folks, welcome to the Republic of the Paramecium. They have a metro rail system (MRT) which their wise leaders have lauded as signaling the nation’s confident march into the 21st century. The only problem is that the managers of this very modern public transport system have intelligence levels equal to that of single-celled organisms. So at any given day of the week, especially during rush hours, you will see people risking limbs and lives by stepping near the edge of loading platforms and keeping their noses within inches of the passing trains. They have to do this if they want to have even the slimmest chance of getting half of their bodies inside the crowded coaches. In fact, “crowded” is very much an understatement at such moments. “Overloaded” would be a more realistic description. Both desperate folks who just want to get home fast and brutes who are used to having their way in such situations would have to squeeze through the packed coaches, often relying on the push of the growing mob behind them to get in.

Meanwhile, managers and security guards at the loading station would be busy carrying on with their seemingly unproblematic existence. Inside their air conditioned ticketing office, the managers would keep on playing this announcement over the public address system advising passengers to stay behind the yellow line for their own safety. Their equally unthinking stooges would then be blowing their whistles and waving their sticks through the air to warn people that they should step back from the edge of the loading platform. Of course, nobody cares to follow them or their advisory. Because you have to be in front of the mob to be in a strategic position to worm your way through the coach’s entrance when the train stops. And you can’t afford to wait beyond forty-five minutes for a half-filled train to pass by, or you’ll be charged an extra amount (equal to what you paid when you got in) as you try to get off at your destination.

All these time, any creature with an iota of what can be considered as human intelligence would perhaps be wondering why people managing the loading station couldn’t just call the central office, and place an urgent request for an empty train. Such creature has to be reminded, of course, that an advanced technology does not necessarily imply the presence of thinking human beings. A high tech transport system like the metro rail transit in the RP can be operated by creatures with the IQ of a bug. That says a lot about how user-friendly these technologies are.