6 ms·
Slight tangent, but to me futuristic cities are actually places like Amsterdam, with cozy streets and bike lanes everywhere, not places like Dubai with 16-lane
by andrepd 6mo ago
Slight tangent, but to me futuristic cities are actually places like Amsterdam, with cozy streets and bike lanes everywhere, not places like Dubai with 16-lane freeways and a quasi-slave underclass staffing the tacky malls.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- lolive 6mo ago[flagged]
- hdgvhicv 6mo agoOil is required to get around cities like Austin, not to get around cities like Amsterdam
- echoangle 6mo agoIf you take futuristic to mean „looking like the future“, it think the second option is sadly more futuristic for some people
- andrepd 6mo agoIndeed, but sprawling lead-smoke infested freeways is the stuff of the 1950s; bike lanes and playgrounds and grassy tram tracks is what some cities are starting to do just now! So actually more futuristic, objectively speaking :)
- mlinhares 6mo agoIts sad that people think the "future" is all about owning stuff for yourself and not what the city can provide to its population.
- FpUser 6mo agoWhy is it said? Being independent to the degree possible is the best state for human being I think.
- patmorgan23 6mo agoDo you think we became the dominant species by being independent loners, or by forming complex interdependent groups?
- FpUser 6mo agoI said "independent to the degree possible", not absolutely. I do not live in a binary world. I accept things in between. Being part of group should be voluntary, not forced What I definitely do not want is my life to be dictated by a few imbeciles at the top who are bought by large corps to pretend to be "by the people for the people".
- defrost 6mo agoThe solution to that is widespread active low level constant community engagement in policy and monitoring the people you hire to debate policy (politicians) and the various silo's created to enact policy (military, civil service, legal, emergancy response, etc.). Some people think it sufficient to pay no attention and let things slide indefinitely because "ultimately we can just rise up and shoot the government". Such people have clogged toilets.
- someguynamedq 6mo agoIsn't it expected that in a system that favors individualism over collectivism that a few people will be able to amass disproportionately more wealth and power than everyone else with no incentive or societally enforced responsibility to share that wealth and power, thus creating a society were your life is dictated by a few imbeciles at the top, not who are not bought by large corps, but who own the large corps?
- FpUser 6mo ago
- b00ty4breakfast 6mo agoI guess it depends on if you were a Gibson fan or an Asimov fan as a teen
- brcmthrowaway 6mo agoAnd yet Amsterdam has a world famous seedy district
- reaperducer 6mo agoAnd yet Amsterdam has a world famous seedy district What world-class city doesn't? And if you think there aren't hookers in Dubai, then I don't know what to tell you.
- RobertoG 6mo agoActually, there are probably not a lot of hookers in Dubai at this moment. Most are probably back to Europe (or stuck in the airport).
- cactusplant7374 6mo agoA lot of people don’t like bikes. I am down for salty licorice though.
- sumedh 6mo agoIs it because they’re used to cars from a young age?
- cactusplant7374 6mo agoPeople don't like bicycling in the same way a lot of people don't like football. It's just a sport preference.
- sumedh 6mo agoAny citations for that?
- spookie 6mo agoEh, I think its just that the infrastructure rewards having a car and not bikes. I thought the same before, only after experiencing for years the small things that make it possible, have I come around to it. The little Honda City/Today with its trunk scooter from the 80's was ahead of its time, really. Its a path one should look at in large metropolitan areas. With electric bikes, even cities with large elevation deltas have a chance nowadays.
- g-mork 6mo agoThis is a hilarious comparison given Amsterdam's own history with regard to immigration. Not even historically but contemporarily too.. Just Eat, probably the largest employer of bargain bucket labour across Europe today is headquartered in Amsterdam
- refulgentis 6mo agoIt was snippy and unclear, after the edit, its that and weak. I’d motion you just delete. Not sure literal slaves is comparable to a company that pays bargain basement salaries
- g-mork 6mo agoIt is hilarious, because it is blinded by our own self-imposed optics. It has been our policy to import droves of immigrant workers who have little hope but to take up gig economy jobs often illegally and remain fixed at the same (or worse) levels of economic status as the day they arrived in the country. Yes in Dubai they simply confiscate passports. At least they're honest about it
- refulgentis 6mo agoThe kafala system confiscates your passport. You can't quit, can't switch employers, can't leave the country. People die in labor camps building these vanity projects. The UN classifies it as modern slavery. A Just Eat rider in Amsterdam can quit tomorrow and sue their employer. Those aren't the same thing. You can criticize Europe's treatment of immigrant workers without pretending the difference is just honesty.
- ifwinterco 6mo agoIt's 40+ degrees every day in the summer with high humidity, nobody who can afford a car is cycling in any of these cities. It's not really about town planning it's just how it is
- c0nstantien 6mo ago[dead]