Comment by pixl97
We lose something when we give up horses for cars.
Have too many of us outsourced our ability to raise horses for transport?
Surely you're capable of walking all day without break?
We lose something when we give up horses for cars.
Have too many of us outsourced our ability to raise horses for transport?
Surely you're capable of walking all day without break?
It is political. Designing everything around cars benefits the class of people called "Car Owners". Not so much people who don't have the money or desire to buy a car.
Although, congestion pricing is a good counter-example. On the surface it looks like it is designed to benefit users of public transportation. But turns out it also benefits car-owners, because it reduces traffic jams and lets you get to your destination with your own car faster.
No, it benefits car manufacturers and sellers, and mechanics and gas stations.
Network/snowball effects are not all good. If local businesses close because everybody drives to WalMart to save a buck, now other people around those local businesses also have to buy a car.
I remember a couple of decades ago when some bus companies in the UK were privatized, and they cut out the "unprofitable" feeder routes.
Guess what? More people in cars, and those people didn't just park and take the bus when they got to the main route, either.
>No, it benefits car manufacturers and sellers, and mechanics and gas stations.
Everybody thinks they're customers when they buy a car, but they're really the product. These industries, and others, are the real customers
It's a funnily relevant parallel you're making, because designing everything around the car has absolutely been one of the biggest catastrophes of 2nd half of the 20th century. Much like "AI" in the past couple years, the personal automobile is a useful tool but making anything and everything subservient towards its use has had catastrophic consequences.