5 ms·

Ants walk. They live near their necessities, and they move the entire colony/city, as a single unit, when the local economy goes bad. They only own what they ca

Ants walk. They live near their necessities, and they move the entire colony/city, as a single unit, when the local economy goes bad. They only own what they can carry: their larvae and their next meal. Their payload ratio is legendary, but within the range of a bicycle + trailer. When there is a big problem, they physically band together to solve it. We have so much to learn from the ants, but 2 ton personal vehicles, four lane city roads and a 1-2 hour daily commute, are not a part of that picture.

lisper 9y ago
It also helps if you're light enough to be able to collide without injury.
- dismantlethesun 9y ago
  So maybe we should have bumper cars that only move 25 miles per hour, and never stop except at their destination? I could actually see that working in big cities.
  - devrandomguy 9y ago
    Let's also reduce the mass of the vehicle, to a fraction of its payload. Then, let's have the user supply the energy from their own food supply. These improvements will also improve health, safety and space/cost/energy efficiency. https://imgur.com/gallery/DAijq#qcfLWFs https://imgur.com/gallery/DAijq#qcfLWFs Plastic safety bumper plates around the front seems like a good idea for this build. It might save a dog's life.
moneytide1 9y ago
"They only own what they can carry" Individual households in tightly packed neighborhoods EACH have garages full of items they only use a few times a year. Some may share, but communal living is hardly there. Then we need more jobs and more factories to replicate more of those same random items (ladders, wasp spray, yard tools, etc) so that they be stored away and not shared. Then there is more traffic for people to get to work where they participate in production that goes largely unused. The system has enabled far too much excess, and it's a collective educational issue.
- flubert 9y ago
  >random items (ladders, wasp spray, yard tools, etc) so that they be stored away and not shared. Are there any community sharing apps? So that I could loan out my ladder, etc.?
  - roughcoat 9y ago
    Make a facebook group for your neighborhood if you want, I suppose. There's no way I'm loaning out my tools, equipment, or anything else I own except to people I trust very highly. I like my possessions to A) be readily available and B) in good working condition when I need them.
    - devrandomguy 9y ago
      A reputation system might help alleviate those concerns; it might even result in your tools being better maintained. I've never tried a car-share, but the general idea seems legit. The primary motive for you to join, would be the opportunity to use the best specialized tool for every job, every time. If not even that would convince you, then you must have a truly awesome lab/workshop, and therefore you are out of our league, so to speak. Congratulations on your success, I hope to see your work on Youtube.
      - roughcoat 9y ago
        There's a difference between belonging to a sort of tool club, and paying with both time and money to keep things going well, and loaning out my personal possessions. I've been thinking about joining a local makerspace specifically to get access to large tools I don't have space for right now, and I have no problem with that idea. That's no different from joining a gym, in principle. (That doesn't mean I prefer using communal tools. I means right now, that's what's best for my situation. Once I have space, I absolutely will be buying a lathe, mill, etc.) However, there's a clear difference between that and loaning out my personal equipment. I would never belong to a car share because my car is an intensely personal possession. It doesn't sit bare and empty when I'm not driving it--I keep things in my car--and I never want it to be unavailable to me. And the same goes for my tools. Even something as simple as a ladder or a socket set is personal, when it's something you selected and bought yourself. I wonder how many mechanics you know? Machinists? Other skilled tool-using professionals? Ask some of them how they feel about loaning tools sometime.
flubert 9y ago
>They only own what they can carry Aphids? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071009212548.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071009212548.h...
- devrandomguy 9y ago
  Dogs and chickens, I forgot about them, but with safe slow traffic, your dog can tag along. With a special purpose compartment on the bike trailer, you could bring ~4 chickens, and have a couple fresh eggs every morning, wherever you happen to be. Home is wherever you can inflate your bed; your party only moves forward, never returns. Perhaps someone should specialize to handle sheep and goats. If you want deer or bison, then form a hunting party, and then trade 100s of kilos of sausages for your kid's first bike-trailer-home.

lisper 9y ago

It also helps if you're light enough to be able to collide without injury.

dismantlethesun 9y ago
So maybe we should have bumper cars that only move 25 miles per hour, and never stop except at their destination? I could actually see that working in big cities.
- devrandomguy 9y ago
  Let's also reduce the mass of the vehicle, to a fraction of its payload. Then, let's have the user supply the energy from their own food supply. These improvements will also improve health, safety and space/cost/energy efficiency. https://imgur.com/gallery/DAijq#qcfLWFs https://imgur.com/gallery/DAijq#qcfLWFs Plastic safety bumper plates around the front seems like a good idea for this build. It might save a dog's life.

moneytide1 9y ago

"They only own what they can carry" Individual households in tightly packed neighborhoods EACH have garages full of items they only use a few times a year. Some may share, but communal living is hardly there. Then we need more jobs and more factories to replicate more of those same random items (ladders, wasp spray, yard tools, etc) so that they be stored away and not shared. Then there is more traffic for people to get to work where they participate in production that goes largely unused. The system has enabled far too much excess, and it's a collective educational issue.

flubert 9y ago
>random items (ladders, wasp spray, yard tools, etc) so that they be stored away and not shared. Are there any community sharing apps? So that I could loan out my ladder, etc.?
- roughcoat 9y ago
  Make a facebook group for your neighborhood if you want, I suppose. There's no way I'm loaning out my tools, equipment, or anything else I own except to people I trust very highly. I like my possessions to A) be readily available and B) in good working condition when I need them.
  - devrandomguy 9y ago
    A reputation system might help alleviate those concerns; it might even result in your tools being better maintained. I've never tried a car-share, but the general idea seems legit. The primary motive for you to join, would be the opportunity to use the best specialized tool for every job, every time. If not even that would convince you, then you must have a truly awesome lab/workshop, and therefore you are out of our league, so to speak. Congratulations on your success, I hope to see your work on Youtube.
    - roughcoat 9y ago
      There's a difference between belonging to a sort of tool club, and paying with both time and money to keep things going well, and loaning out my personal possessions. I've been thinking about joining a local makerspace specifically to get access to large tools I don't have space for right now, and I have no problem with that idea. That's no different from joining a gym, in principle. (That doesn't mean I prefer using communal tools. I means right now, that's what's best for my situation. Once I have space, I absolutely will be buying a lathe, mill, etc.) However, there's a clear difference between that and loaning out my personal equipment. I would never belong to a car share because my car is an intensely personal possession. It doesn't sit bare and empty when I'm not driving it--I keep things in my car--and I never want it to be unavailable to me. And the same goes for my tools. Even something as simple as a ladder or a socket set is personal, when it's something you selected and bought yourself. I wonder how many mechanics you know? Machinists? Other skilled tool-using professionals? Ask some of them how they feel about loaning tools sometime.

flubert 9y ago

>They only own what they can carry Aphids? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071009212548.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071009212548.h...

devrandomguy 9y ago
Dogs and chickens, I forgot about them, but with safe slow traffic, your dog can tag along. With a special purpose compartment on the bike trailer, you could bring ~4 chickens, and have a couple fresh eggs every morning, wherever you happen to be. Home is wherever you can inflate your bed; your party only moves forward, never returns. Perhaps someone should specialize to handle sheep and goats. If you want deer or bison, then form a hunting party, and then trade 100s of kilos of sausages for your kid's first bike-trailer-home.