5 ms·

I get it. There's a few things that just make trains the perfect storm of obsession. I think I can list a few. 1. The clockwork. The time tables and planning a

I get it. There's a few things that just make trains the perfect storm of obsession. I think I can list a few. 1. The clockwork. The time tables and planning are like gears on a civilization scale machine. A gear so big that from the first person perspective you can't even see its a gear. 2. Infrastructure is politics by other means. Concrete and steel are the only things that outlive even the supreme court justices. What gets built dictates so much about where people will live and how they will live, and sometimes these decisions are the result of lengthy deliberations and sometimes they are the result of the selfish wants of an unaccountable planner. 3. The optimization problem of it all. It's so easy to obsess over the map, seeing all those cross town trips that would be so much easier if some existing line just went slightly further. Trying to understand why lines get built where they do.

euroderf 5y ago
4. Trains map to (what I suspect is) our genetically-programmed interest in large animals. My 2yo loves anything with wheels (i.e. feet/hooves), and trains are the apex predators. Then we anthropomorphize them (Thomas the Tank Engine, etc.) in order to "tame" them. My 0.02€, YMMV.
- jl6 5y ago
  So, this is totally pop-evolutionary-psychology, but I think the relevant predisposition is towards hoarding. For 100,000 generations, humans (and our ancestors before then) have had to gather and store food and other supplies to see them through the winter (or other hard times). We are wired to do this because we would have died out if we didn’t. Building games let you build up your hoard of stuff (whether trains, rails, buildings, tiberium silos, green circuits, …) in a tight feedback loop that repeatedly triggers the “this is my stuff, now I am safe” dopamine response. This also explains collecting hobbies, and goes some way towards explaining the desire for wealth acquisition in general.
- ericd 5y ago
  Yeah, trains and trucks seem to tap into some built-in interest in megafauna. Dinosaurs do too.

euroderf 5y ago

4. Trains map to (what I suspect is) our genetically-programmed interest in large animals. My 2yo loves anything with wheels (i.e. feet/hooves), and trains are the apex predators. Then we anthropomorphize them (Thomas the Tank Engine, etc.) in order to "tame" them. My 0.02€, YMMV.

jl6 5y ago
So, this is totally pop-evolutionary-psychology, but I think the relevant predisposition is towards hoarding. For 100,000 generations, humans (and our ancestors before then) have had to gather and store food and other supplies to see them through the winter (or other hard times). We are wired to do this because we would have died out if we didn’t. Building games let you build up your hoard of stuff (whether trains, rails, buildings, tiberium silos, green circuits, …) in a tight feedback loop that repeatedly triggers the “this is my stuff, now I am safe” dopamine response. This also explains collecting hobbies, and goes some way towards explaining the desire for wealth acquisition in general.
ericd 5y ago
Yeah, trains and trucks seem to tap into some built-in interest in megafauna. Dinosaurs do too.