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I came to this realization myself recently while reading Joshua Spodek's book "Initiative". He points out that making something more efficient will lead to more
by Buttons840 7y ago
I came to this realization myself recently while reading Joshua Spodek's book "Initiative". He points out that making something more efficient will lead to more of that thing.
Cars ("vehicles") are part of our larger economic system, and that system does little to limit commutes. Only peoples own dislike of commuting keeps commute times down. Self-driving cars will make long commutes more tolerable, and thus raise the limiting factor on commutes.
I predict that if level-5 self-driving cars become a reality, we'll see a new type of dystopian hell, where it's common to spend 6+ hours a day commuting. It will be especially burdensome for those who are poor and have to drive their car manually.
Suddenly I'm less excited about self-driving cars.
- munk-a 7y agoI really don't know how accurate that is - right now the US is weird about Automobiles (they were highly inflated in importance and as a status symbol by marketing) but it looks like that weirdness is fading as the younger generation is moving closer into city centers and has a much higher preference for public transit... I think that cars, whether there are level 5 self-driving cars to replace them or not, are just on their way out. City planning in the US is a mess though right now.
- fiter 7y agoEven people who do not drive (take transit) try to limit their commute time, so I would not expect to see these even longer commute times.
- soperj 7y agoI knew a guy in Toronto that would do 3 hours each way. Seemed absolutely bananas, but there he was, every day.