My third year at Elon ended awhile ago, but there is one question I was asked this year that is still burning in my mind. It's not from a class I took or a meaningful discussion I made but it is still of utter importance.
Does Lightning McQueen have car insurance or life insurance?
It's been presented to me that he could have both but that answer just doesn't satisfy me. Sometimes not everyone gets to be right. Just like you shouldn't get a trophy for being the 12th best team in little-league, Lightning McQueen should have either car insurance or life insurance, not both.
My initial response was that McQueen has car insurance because, you know, he's a car. However, a deeper dive into the issue shows me that only fools would think this way.
Throughout the “Cars" universe it appears that cars are the main source of intelligent life on the planet. There are no signs of human beings ever existing. Even if you subscribe to the theory that all Pixar movies share the same universe, there are still no humans on earth at the time of “Cars."
With no humans around, it's reasonable to believe the cars think of themselves as the dominant form of life and would thus, have Car insurance. Our hearts are their engines. Our buttcracks are their mufflers. You get the idea. What's most important is that while life looks different for Cars, they would still refer to it their insurance as for their lives.
If you are still saying that since they are Cars they would call it car insurance, I would love for you to show me the “Human Insurance" card you keep in your wallet. Oh, you don't have one? That's what I thought.
If Lightning McQueen really had car insurance like in our world, please tell me who is working on him when he goes into the auto shop? A car working on another car sounds a lot to me like the “Cars" version of a doctor, not a mechanic.
Overall this debate is silly. Once you get past your initial instincts, It's clear to me that whatever the dominant, intelligent form of life is in the world, they would have life insurance. It doesn't matter if that is cars, kangaroos, or even refrigerators. The dominant life is life, and that life needs to be insured.
