Self-cancelling turnsignals. I'm not a fan of them. Remember that I lived through their introduction into powersports. One thing became immediately clear: they did not work right. Their cancel timing was never appropriate. No doubt they have improved since then. But I still find them distracting.

My wife bought me a cordless toothbrush some years ago. It turns out these things vary in quality quite a lot, but even this economy model was pretty effective. There is a lot to be said for it. It probably does improve the thoroughness of the job of teeth brushing. Okay. I like it. But then I experienced its beeps. What the...? "That's to remind you to put the toothbrush into a different place in your mouth", my wife says. What? "It divides the job into four segments, each timed and marked by a beep. That way you know when to move it around and you'll do a better job of brushing." How do I turn this off? "You can't." Here, here's a spare toothbrush. Where's my old one?

I don't like machines making decisions for me. Not at all. Auto correct, auto capitalization and words appearing out of nowhere are bad enough. Car doors that lock and unlock when shifting into and out of Park. Handy, sure, but a little unsettling. Antilock brakes, meh. But especially self-cancelling turnsignals. I love 'em on cars, I absolutely hate 'em on bikes (on which they make no sense). Even mopeds have self-cancelling turnsignals today. Incredible.

No, I don't want to go back to wood stoves, kerosene lighting and rotary dial telephones. But neither do I appreciate manufacturers making assumptions about how I want to use their products. And worse, not allowing me to opt out of their perfect plan. Part of motorcycling is making decisions. Another "auto" word comes to mind: autonomy. Appliances should serve us, not the other way around.