Could the solution lie in GPS navigation after all? Yes, it would probably deliver quite a bit more efficiency and less frustration. But do I really want to subject myself to this form of self-surveillance — one that also immediately flashes before my eyes how many calories I've already burned, how many kilometers I still have to go, and how many hills are still ahead?

The question reminds me of the philosopher Michel Foucault and his notion of biopolitics. In the 1970s, he described a form of power focused on organizing and optimizing the life of the population. The state began to register and steer birth rates, public health, and sexuality. The individual body became a political object. The population was reduced to something countable, measurable, and moldable.

What Foucault probably didn't foresee is the extent to which that measurability has taken up residence today in the wearable devices we voluntarily wear. GPS trackers, smartwatches, and smart, somewhat creepy glasses promise care, health, and efficiency, but demand access to our bodies. Power and control, in this case, are not imposed by the state but exercised by individuals themselves. Biopolitics as self-surveillance.

Fast-forward to my bike trip this year. Indeed — with GPS tracking. I notice that I happily ride eight kilometers farther just to hit exactly 100 on the odometer. I notice that I climb a mountain feeling more tired in advance, when I've seen beforehand how tall and steep it is. And I notice that at the end, I pedal just a little harder, to push my average speed a bit higher than the day before.

The measured life? Perhaps it's not for me after all.