I first learned about Artificial Intelligence in the early 80's. And it's name was K.I.T.T. - short for the Knight Industries Two Thousand. A nearly indestructible talking car and best friend to it's driver, Michael Knight.
Now to be completely honest, this was not really the first time I had seen AI portrayed on T.V. or on the big screen. I saw the droids in Star Wars and I had seen "K.I.T.T.'s cousins" the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica, but these were so far out, science fiction, I could not see them in the real world. But here we had a black 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am with an advance computer system that could drive, think, and talk all by itself. And it was NOW.
My father was a great car enthusiast, but he liked car like the late 60's & early 70's muscle cars such as the Chevy Nova, the Chevy Chevelle Super Sport, and the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. Now if K.I.T.T. was one of those cars, he may have had more interest.
I had always dreamed of having a car like K.I.T.T. and swore that one day I would...
It took me nearly 2 decades to realize my dream of having my very own K.I.T.T. Yes, okay, it wasn't a nearly indestructible 1982 Trans-Am nor did it have an AI computer on board ( closest I came to that is when somebody had "Siri" on their phone and they rode with me).
Heck, it wasn't even a Trans-Am, it was a '90 Firebird. But it was fun to drive and it was a real head turner. In Germany at the time, you really didn't see many of these on the road unless you were near a military installation. The car wasn't new, so I had to have a lot of maintenance done to keep it on the road. The price of gasoline in Germany was over 3 times the price I paid in the States, and even though the car only had a V6, it was a gas-guzzler. I was able to keep it for about 5 years until the costs just got out of hand.
But I kept that promise to my younger self and it was fun while it lasted. I now drive a small compact car, sure is easier to find a parking spot and gets better mileage, but it's not nearly as fun to drive as the "Dorkmobile" was. And as they say, "It's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all."
Do you have any old T.V. series or movies which inspired wishes that you carried from your childhood into real life? Were you able to realize them (more or less)? Or are you still working towards obtaining them?
Or maybe you'd like to share your take on the Knight Rider?
Let me know in the comments below.
And as always recommend!
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