Comment by username223 5 days ago
Very strong "reverse centaur" vibes here, in the sense of humans becoming servants to machines, instead of vice versa. Not that I think making things more machine-readable is a waste of time, but you have to keep in mind the amount of human time sacrificed.
As a cyclist, I’m with you 100%. Unfortunately we’re probably going to do it again with self-driving cars, with segregated lanes, special markers, etc.
A pessimistic look at self driving cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040ejWnFkj0&t=3148s
If we end up where the video presents, humans don't deserve technology of any kind.
Why is it always "humans don't deserve"? The vast, vast majority of people have nothing to do with the capital flows and political structures that result in outcomes like this. What choice does a worker, priced out of the city where he works and forced to commute an hour each way, have in this? Yes, they can "vote" for better transit, but as we can see in California that's not enough to actually get said transit. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The poor, the homeless, hell the vast majority of the world population that doesn't live in the 'garden': in what way do the choices of Silicon Valley, a handful of billionaires, and a small clique of DC politicians have any bearing on what they do or do not deserve?
Not to be too harsh, but this sentiment -- that the successes of the ruling class are theirs to boast, but their failures are all humanity's shame -- is so pervasive and so effective at shielding rightful blame from said ruling class that I just cannot help but push back when I see it/
Well, it wouldn't even be the first time.
We've completely redesigned society around cars - making the most human populated environments largely worse for humans along the way.
Universal sidewalks (not really needed with slow moving traffic like horses and carts - though nice even back then), traffic lights, stop signs, street crossing, interchanges, etc.