I am currently sitting in my extraordinarily cold apartment, my cat frozen to my lap, and my electric blanket set on "incinerate" so I can quickly dive back into bed when I feel myself losing sensation in my outer limbs. The heat actually went out yesterday afternoon, but I waited until about 8pm before finally calling maintenance. As it turns out my call didn't make much difference, because it is now the next day, and my cat is still frozen to my lap.

I hate calling maintenance because it often seems that I'm the only one who ever does, thus giving me the perception that maintenance must have the perception that I am the biggest pain in the ass since hemorrhoids. Last night was no different. "Are you sure the heat is out?" they asked. "The radiators are cold and getting colder," I replied. "Are you sure it isn't just your apartment?" they asked. "The radiators in the stairwell are cold as well and since the building uses a central boiler and distribution system, I assume their heat is out in other apartments as well." I replied. "Just had to ask", they said, "because you're the only one who called".

"I'm ALWAYS the only one who calls" I replied.

Apathy or stupidity or the desire to commit suicide via hypothermia - you decide. The point remains that, out of the 6 or 8 people that live in my building, I was the only one to call when the heat went out on a 20 degree night. As an experiment once, I just didn't call and decided to weather out the cold for as long as it took somebody else to notify maintenance and get the problem solved. After FOUR days I finally gave up and called. "How long has the heat been out?" they asked. "About 4 days" I replied. "FOUR days? Why didn't you call earlier", they asked. "Because I'm an idiot", I replied.

Apathy can take many forms, from the relatively harmless (my heat situation) to the sinister (the New York jogger incident of a decade and a half ago). People like to discard unofficial responsibility for many reasons. Either they don't feel they shouldn't get involved because it's none of their business, or perhaps they're unwilling to take the risks involved in getting yourself caught up in somebody else's (or a mechanical device's) existence. But as technology, services and "innovation" allow us to go on with our life with less and less direct involvement in the technical aspects of what makes things "go", I'm beginning to think much of this apathy is the result of us thinking that something - another person, a program, the God Of Central Heating - will just make our problems GO AWAY without us having to lift a finger.

In the world of 2060, this philosophy might have reached an extreme. Today many of us will walk away from a soda machine that has stolen our money (after issuing a severe beating, of course) and not even momentarily ponder the possibility of dialing the Hotline number on the front and notifying somebody that the machine is broken. Most of us wouldn't even be so kind as to put a "This Damn Machine Stole My Money" sign on it as a warning to others.

In 2060 - an era of smart machines which probably have the ability to dial the hotline themselves if things go wrong - a broken soda machine may stand for WEEKS without repair. After all, isn't it the machine's responsibility to tell somebody it's broken? Damn, straight! What if the dial-up module is busted? Not my problem! And our 2060 selves will waltz away from the machine without delay - and without our soda.

During my sporadic commuting sessions down the Schuylkill Expressway (aka The SureKill Distressway) in Philadelphia, I pass many a vehicle that has been unable to withstand the stress of a 900 mph reverse commute and has crapped out on the side of the road. Now even I, a relatively helpful citizen, am not so kind as to stop off and render assistance during rush hour, primarily because I'm usually in the left hand lane doing Mach 1 and only really process the situation well after I've passed it. But it really wouldn't be that much of a trick for me to pick up the cell phone, and dial *whatever to report the situation. But do I? Sadly, the answer is no. My logic? Somebody else has probably already called it in.

In 2060 these people may not get assistance for hours. After all, if they weren't smart enough to purchase a TowWagon (or whatever) contract or a vehicle with a limp-home compensation system, then they really dug themselves their OWN hole, didn't they?

Once while working a temp job in the burbs, I was driving down the intestate when I caught sight of something that really worried me. Standing on the side of the highway was a young girl - probably 15 or 16 - with a backpack, a duffel bag over her shoulder, and a small dog to her side. There were no stranded cars in sight - and this girl was hitching a ride.

There are 1000 reasons why this girl may have been standing by the side of the road. Perhaps she did have a broken down car that I just didn't see. Perhaps she was running away from an abusive home and was looking for a way to escape. Perhaps she was just hitching a ride into downtown to meet up with a friend. All of these were variables in the situation, but one thing was not - there are a lot of really sick people in the world, and she was a young girl standing by the side of the road. Quickly I called 911.