4 ms·

I think he sort of suggests the "true problem" in the beginning by questioning the premise of even owning a car. He decided, perhaps wisely, to not go down that

I think he sort of suggests the "true problem" in the beginning by questioning the premise of even owning a car. He decided, perhaps wisely, to not go down that rabbit-hole. We are all interested in how technology will change our lives and solve problems but many folks aren't willing to consider that actually solving some problems requires living in a way which is intrinsically different. It might very well be possible that "tech curves" will eventually solve the problem of transitioning everyone now driving gasoline cars to electric but that is perhaps a localized optimization. Maybe to _REALLY_ solve the problem requires us to re-consider the way we're living. Is it really sane to live 20-50 miles away from where one works and drive a car in bumper-to-bumper traffic as a daily commute? Sure, if the cars were electric, a larger fraction of the energy wasted doing this would be "renewable" or at least "greener" but what about the wasted time, erosion of well-being, and the continued waste of space. Yes, even electric cars need highways, parking lots, and cities which force themselves to be car-scaled rather than human-scaled. How much would we really solve by the transition to electric cars? These are not considerations which are easy to talk about, but they're the "true problems" which are being swept under the rug by techno-optimists.

blacksmith_tb 11y ago
Presumably at least some techno-optimists would agree, but suggest that transitioning to electric cars is a step towards making our bad situation better. Restructuring our cities, getting everyone to bicycle, walk, or use public transit (and killing off the auto industry, which is a significant chunk of the manufacturing economy) would be much harder to accomplish in the near future.
- crispyambulance 11y ago
  The path we as a society ultimately take isn't up to any one entity making decisions (not even Elon Musk :-) ). Certainly lifestyle transitions will require decades, after all, it took decades to cities to become car-centric. But can happen even within a generation. Many millennials eschew car ownership and are moving back to cities, whereas for baby boomers the car was a rite of passage as well as its concomitant house in the 'burbs. Transitioning entirely to electric vehicles will also take decades (admittedly it would be less time because car-years are much quicker than people-years). What will happen is some mixture of both of these along with random jags of reactionary fascination with the happy-motoring era and who knows what else. Ultimately, we only have a finite quantity of fossil fuels and there is no "free-refill" for the planet. At some point, lifestyles will have to change drastically to accommodate this limitation as population continues to grow.
HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
Is it really sane to live 20-50 miles away from where one works Even though my commute is quite pleasant: a 20-minute drive on quiet country roads then a 30-minute bus trip followed by a 10-minute walk to the office, I think about this quite a lot. Especially during the "drive on country roads" bit. I live in a rural area and I really like it where I live, for any number of reasons. I have absolutely no desire to move back to the city that I work in, even though when I was living there I had a lot of fun. Life is better when it's simpler and one way I can make it simpler is by either working remotely (not a possibility with my current employer), or becoming self-employed. Wasting time commuting, no matter how enjoyable the commute, is still wasting time.

blacksmith_tb 11y ago

Presumably at least some techno-optimists would agree, but suggest that transitioning to electric cars is a step towards making our bad situation better. Restructuring our cities, getting everyone to bicycle, walk, or use public transit (and killing off the auto industry, which is a significant chunk of the manufacturing economy) would be much harder to accomplish in the near future.

crispyambulance 11y ago
The path we as a society ultimately take isn't up to any one entity making decisions (not even Elon Musk :-) ). Certainly lifestyle transitions will require decades, after all, it took decades to cities to become car-centric. But can happen even within a generation. Many millennials eschew car ownership and are moving back to cities, whereas for baby boomers the car was a rite of passage as well as its concomitant house in the 'burbs. Transitioning entirely to electric vehicles will also take decades (admittedly it would be less time because car-years are much quicker than people-years). What will happen is some mixture of both of these along with random jags of reactionary fascination with the happy-motoring era and who knows what else. Ultimately, we only have a finite quantity of fossil fuels and there is no "free-refill" for the planet. At some point, lifestyles will have to change drastically to accommodate this limitation as population continues to grow.

HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago

Is it really sane to live 20-50 miles away from where one works Even though my commute is quite pleasant: a 20-minute drive on quiet country roads then a 30-minute bus trip followed by a 10-minute walk to the office, I think about this quite a lot. Especially during the "drive on country roads" bit. I live in a rural area and I really like it where I live, for any number of reasons. I have absolutely no desire to move back to the city that I work in, even though when I was living there I had a lot of fun. Life is better when it's simpler and one way I can make it simpler is by either working remotely (not a possibility with my current employer), or becoming self-employed. Wasting time commuting, no matter how enjoyable the commute, is still wasting time.