Born to Ride?

I was thinking the other day.

Almost every animal has something that it can do exceptionally well - bloodhounds track by smell, birds fly (and can often do it in formation), cats hunt (I've seen a dopey housecat chomp a bird out of midair), and so on.

What about people? What do we do really well? OK just toss the thinking part aside for a second. What physical act are we good at, so good in fact, that the level of skill we have can seem impossible at times?

Driving.

Humans can hunt. Humans can bite reasonably well and strangle and claw. We can climb, and we have good eyesight that aids especially in our use of weapons. But think about all of our traits (including intelligence if you want) put together. If there is some kind of design to the universe, then what were we designed for?

I say it's to drive and fly vehicles.

Think about it. Humans have good vision overall, but we're especially good at locating objects and movement, and have a unique spacial awareness of the world around us that probably also owes a lot to our stereo hearing and sense of balance.

But it's more than just that. Humans have a very unique talent of being able to "feel" the mass and shape of an object under our control.

When a person gets in a car, they very quickly get a feel for how big the vehicle is, and can often maneuver in insanely tight areas that they can't possibly perceive with any of their normal senses. I'm not so experienced with driving cars, but when I'm on my scooter I feel like I have become a part of the bike, like I can kinda tell where it ends and the air (or a truck whizzing by me at 80mph) begins.

Is this all just a question of experience? Is it all a function of us getting used to driving? Probably.

But the insane skill people frequently demonstrate - ie. not plowing into each other every chance they get - makes me almost suspect something more.

Am I saying the real purpose of human existence is that God wanted to watch the Indy 500? No. Maybe our history with horses and other riding animals goes back farther than the archaeological record shows. Maybe we evolved as riders as much as we evolved as walkers, hunters and talkers, and our relationship with horses has given us an innate skill with vehicles of all kinds.

Maybe that's why even in the most unbelieveable sci-fi flick, the one thing that never throws us for a loop are the flying cars, mecha, and light-cycles.

Driving, piloting, and riding are the one kind of act that all people seem to have a knack for, so why couldn't that be what we evolved for (along with the other stuff)?

... Do I really believe all this crap? Not really. But I have dodged my way out of some crazy near accidents several times, and I don't think I'm that great of a rider.

Who knows?