sershe

46 ms·

301.
by sershe 3y ago
It is! Just like not having surgery, not using AC/heating, or not wearing glasses, etc. All those things are unnatural and some are expensive, but luckily we are not hunter-gatherers anymore ;)
302.
by sershe 3y ago
I mean, this thread argues that the environment in Amsterdam/Tokyo/New York/... is "objectively better" than in LA to live in. "sedentary lifestyles" is not a real externality and anyway is also easy to ac
303.
by sershe 3y ago
We are talking about in-the-city commuting. The local roads/streets at some stage of poverty are full of mopeds and bicycles, with very few cars. When people have no choice. When they have a choice, they could get better bicycles or mo
304.
by sershe 3y ago
Or I could just drive. How is walking with all these inconveniences "objectively better"? :)
305.
by sershe 3y ago
You treat the walk as the default and car as something that needs to be justified. That's BS. I think you are too privileged to live in a safe neighborhood, in good climate, to be healthy enough to walk with load, and to own a good bac
306.
by sershe 3y ago
It's not. First, there's the "afford" bit, that is the key. And second obviously it's a tradeoff based on infrastructure available, but my point is unless you outright restrict it, everywhere in the world people wil
307.
by sershe 3y ago
Well they don't have much car infrastructure either, and operating a car there is much less convenient than a moped or a bicycle, not to mention extremely expensive relative to income. Plus the car is not necessary by definition since
308.
by sershe 3y ago
I dunno, I used to feel this friction (I didn't use to drive until I was ~30), how driving is a thing and not driving is frictionless, but I think it was just psychological. It feels reverse now - the only frictionless places for ~ever
309.
by sershe 3y ago
What about electric cars with nuclear power or renewables? In any case the argument is not about that. It's one thing to say "we cannot sustain the CO2 emissions / we cannot build enough highways for everyone so sorry, we can
310.
by sershe 3y ago
Countries at "income of about 2,500 per capita" are not exactly known for their car infrastructure. Moreover, by necessity with low car ownership they cannot have car-centric cities - most people don't have cars. I mean have
311.
by sershe 3y ago
From my comment: "Now, you could argue that global warming is bad / enough freeways cannot be built / etc., sure. Maybe we cannot have nice things. But don't argue that people want to live in urban paradise and some cont
312.
by sershe 3y ago
I mountaineer too, it's just a chore to walk with groceries, esp. if the weather is bad and you have to do it every 3 days given how little one can carry. I think I mentioned the drinking aspect in the original comment. I could do all
313.
by sershe 3y ago
It's a tradeoff - the argument is about car vs walking infrastructure, and while it's nice to have both I'd prefer to lose the latter if I had to make a choice. Driving in Amsterdam is... inconvenient. At least in central are
314.
by sershe 3y ago
Here's a great link: "Vehicle ownership starts to grow quickly when countries reach income of about 2,500 per capita in purchasing-power-parity (PPP) terms. Rapid growth continues until income per capita reaches about 10,000. Satu
315.
by sershe 3y ago
I don't think this is very relevant. I would prefer to live in a 3x bigger house, but it would still be walkable. A reverse (also not very relevant) thought experiment - would you prefer to live in one room that is office/bedroom&
316.
by sershe 3y ago
Personally I don't even like driving :) To me it's a minor annoyance, like washing the dishes. But it's just SO much more convenient, so it's worth it.
317.
by sershe 3y ago
But I don't want to! I literally just walked to the store and it was in absoute perfect conditions - we wanted to go for a walk anyway, the weather is perfect (sunny but not hot), the store is 10min walk from my house, the neighborhood
318.
by sershe 3y ago
Going to the store - I'd prefer to drive in LA on an average day of the year. For the mid-range activities we have to compare like with like. For some low-mid range activity (like a local park) indeed, walking in Amsterdam would be mor
319.
by sershe 3y ago
I was literally asking what GP meant: "> Who are you (not you personally, but anyone) to decide how others should live their lives? Someone who wants to socialize your health." Does that mean that socialized medicine justifies
320.
by sershe 3y ago
I've visited, although didn't spend much time in the city itself. I think it's not amazing for me cause other amenities LA has are not the type of stuff I need or enjoy, and there's a huge number of people who do need an
321.
by sershe 3y ago
Hmm, but they did get rid of those. In fact even though I grew up in society where most people smoke and used to smoke myself, after living in the US for a while, when I see someone smoking for the first time I have to catch myself as I inv
322.
by sershe 3y ago
Well, a more sustainable solution is everyone exercising at home whenever they want in the way they want, or going for a run around the block. Going to the store by car + going for a run, is still faster and more convenient than walking to
323.
by sershe 3y ago
What does that mean? If we want to save the money we collectively spend for their healthcare, should we also force people to do exercise? IIRC (cannot find the source right now) smokers who exercise are healthier than those doing neither, b
324.
by sershe 3y ago
I gave up smoking 15 years ago, after doing half pack to a pack a day for 3 years. Admittedly there's a degree here, not a bright line, but cigarettes are not THAT addictive. Plus GP mentioned Coca-Cola and DQ. Soda is not really addic
325.
by sershe 3y ago
I think you misread the comment. What I'm saying is that the GP says "selling cigarettes is bad, because cigarettes are bad for the buyer". Who are you to decide that? You are implicitly saying "the buyer of cigarettes i
326.
by sershe 3y ago
I find I'd much rather drive to the mountains, or a lake, or at least a nice big park, and recreate there. Walking to a store in Amsterdam or Munich or Vancouver or Moscow was neither much fun nor a lot of exercise.
327.
by sershe 3y ago
The cause and effect might be reversed. 1) Most people prefer to drive... look at any country that is getting richer - people want to buy cars. 2) It is only when people cannot afford to drive or driving is too inconvenient (traffic, or nar
328.
by sershe 3y ago
Subjectively worse, not objectively worse. I think driving is much more convenient and nice for most things I like to do. The only exceptions I can think of are if I were a kid in a car-centric area (strangely, the thinking in the US is usu
329.
by sershe 3y ago
Long time ago there was a moment when the best performing stocks in my individual-stock portfolio were PM or maybe MO (cigarettes), DPS (Dr Pepper, it was later acquired), MCD, and AAPL. I joked that it makes sense, the best business is sel
330.
Scrap AML/KYC Laws(marginalrevolution.com)
28 points by sershe 3y ago|4 comments

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