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>What a tangled web we've woven for ourselves to live in, but I guess that was the will of the people so there you go, we got what we asked for. That's exactly

>What a tangled web we've woven for ourselves to live in, but I guess that was the will of the people so there you go, we got what we asked for. That's exactly what happened, at least in the US. I can't speak for other countries such as in Europe. Americans wanted Euclidean zoning, subdivisions, no walkability, giant yards, a car-centric society, NIMBYism, and racism and classism baked into land-use laws, and now they're living with the effects of all that: unaffordable housing. Talking to Americans about this is futile and exasperating, and pointless. You might talk to one and they'll agree about a few points, but then suggest changing laws to let someone build a multi-unit building next to their single-family house and they'll freak out. Suggest eliminating parking requirements and they'll scream. Suggest improving public transit and cutting back on road budgets and they'll cry about "socialism". It's hopeless: Americans simply don't want to live in the kind of society you see in urban Europe or Japan, because they all want to have their own castle, but that simply isn't sustainable. It only worked as long as it did because of the postwar economic boom and America's huge land area, but now the chickens are coming home to roost.

mistermann 4y ago
> Talking to Americans about this is futile and exasperating, and pointless. I would say: it depends. Doing so in small quantities I can certainly agree with the sentiment, but if you talk to people in massive quantities, especially in certain ways, over time you start to notice patterns in their speech, and it seems reasonable to presume that this reflects patterns in thought. It may not seem like it, but we live in a system, and like all systems it can be analyzed. It doesn't have to be though....one can go through their whole life just taking all of this weirdness for granted as most people do, but imagine if the pioneers of science decided to just shrug their shoulders at all the patterns they saw around them? Where would we be if not for anomalies like them?

mistermann 4y ago

> Talking to Americans about this is futile and exasperating, and pointless. I would say: it depends. Doing so in small quantities I can certainly agree with the sentiment, but if you talk to people in massive quantities, especially in certain ways, over time you start to notice patterns in their speech, and it seems reasonable to presume that this reflects patterns in thought. It may not seem like it, but we live in a system, and like all systems it can be analyzed. It doesn't have to be though....one can go through their whole life just taking all of this weirdness for granted as most people do, but imagine if the pioneers of science decided to just shrug their shoulders at all the patterns they saw around them? Where would we be if not for anomalies like them?