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This is a conversation that I think we all need to have. In the future... creeps up faster and faster. Our mind's eye vision of how fast technology evolves is f

by tomkin 14y ago

This is a conversation that I think we all need to have. In the future... creeps up faster and faster. Our mind's eye vision of how fast technology evolves is fixed. Looking back only a few generations, people will conflate that this can describe our inherit humanity for the foreseeable future. I don't think it does. As an example, I often read opinion pieces by local well-to-do progressives; a topic that comes up often is our transportation infrastructure and how we should start buying, living, working local. For a variety of reasons, all of which I agree with for the most part. I can't help but ask myself – will it matter when every car drives itself and is propelled by emission-less energy? Far off, right? Maybe. Or maybe it's 10-15 years away.

evincarofautumn 14y ago
Local food is one thing—it seems absurd to ship a cucumber thousands of miles when I can just grow some in my garden. But a global society is absolutely essential to the continued well-being of our species. Globalisation is a powerful force against misinformation and propaganda—and in turn xenophobia and war. And our global transportation infrastructure isn’t perfect, but it is the best it’s ever been in all of human history. So I would argue that buying locally is far less important than, say, buying handcrafted goods from small businesses, regardless of location.
- mc32 14y ago
  It seems to me that the availability of local food in sufficient quantities to feed tens of millions is a luxury of places which have the conditions necessary to produce such bounty. What does eat local mean for Canadians or people in Arizona? Greenhouses? It's a nice thing to have but a bit impractical for most, unless we would prescribe them a limited diet.
philwelch 14y ago
It doesn't matter if cars are powered by pixie dust and traffic controlled by oracles; using a 2500 pound, six-by-12 foot box to transport 1-2 humans plus cargo is inefficient and wasteful of both energy and space.
- tomkin 14y ago
  I don't disagree. Trouble is, no one cares. And if you have have your cake (SUV) and eat it, too (cheap fuel) I don't know how or where these changes will occur.
  - philwelch 14y ago
    The problem is, changing to a different fuel source is a decades-long engineering problem, while building public transit just requires the doing and reducing sprawl is a natural consequence of lowered real estate prices and heightened fuel prices. Or we could try switching to pixie dust and oracles, and when that doesn't solve the problem we could do what we were supposed to do from the outset.

by tomkin 14y ago

evincarofautumn 14y ago

Local food is one thing—it seems absurd to ship a cucumber thousands of miles when I can just grow some in my garden. But a global society is absolutely essential to the continued well-being of our species. Globalisation is a powerful force against misinformation and propaganda—and in turn xenophobia and war. And our global transportation infrastructure isn’t perfect, but it is the best it’s ever been in all of human history. So I would argue that buying locally is far less important than, say, buying handcrafted goods from small businesses, regardless of location.

mc32 14y ago
It seems to me that the availability of local food in sufficient quantities to feed tens of millions is a luxury of places which have the conditions necessary to produce such bounty. What does eat local mean for Canadians or people in Arizona? Greenhouses? It's a nice thing to have but a bit impractical for most, unless we would prescribe them a limited diet.

philwelch 14y ago

It doesn't matter if cars are powered by pixie dust and traffic controlled by oracles; using a 2500 pound, six-by-12 foot box to transport 1-2 humans plus cargo is inefficient and wasteful of both energy and space.

tomkin 14y ago
I don't disagree. Trouble is, no one cares. And if you have have your cake (SUV) and eat it, too (cheap fuel) I don't know how or where these changes will occur.
- philwelch 14y ago
  The problem is, changing to a different fuel source is a decades-long engineering problem, while building public transit just requires the doing and reducing sprawl is a natural consequence of lowered real estate prices and heightened fuel prices. Or we could try switching to pixie dust and oracles, and when that doesn't solve the problem we could do what we were supposed to do from the outset.