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Comment by tomlue | Hacker News Reader

Completely agree. Though I think this statement could benefit from pointing out that cars also help people go much faster, and do things they otherwise couldn't.

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Relatedly, people who rely too much on GPS for navigation (i.e. online automated route planning), especially real-time, turn-by-turn instruction, seem to have poor spatial awareness, at least at the local geographic level. I doubt the loss of that skill is a meaningful impediment in modern life[1], but I personally would not want to lose it. Tools like Google Maps are extremely useful, but I use them to augment my own navigation and driving skills. I'll briefly study the route before departing, choose major thoroughfares to minimize complexity, and try to memorize the last few turns (signage and a practiced understanding of how highways and roads are laid out is sufficient for getting close enough).

[1] No impediment for them. It's an impediment for me when the car in front of me is clearly being driven by somebody blithely following the computer's instructions, with little if any anticipation of successive turns, and so driving slowly and even erratically.

Yes. You can see a difference between the person who learned to do a process "by hand" and then uses technology to make it faster or easier, versus the person who never learned to do it without the tech at all.

The ICE and more generally the automobile has been a great technology and has lots of benefits. But we did all huff alarming amounts of lead for a generation and built our cities around them to our detriment.

> But we did all huff alarming amounts of lead for a generation and built our cities around them to our detriment.

And yet, this has nothing to do with the ICE itself, and everything to do with the greed of the Ethyl Corporation and the generation of corrupted minions that knowingly enabled their disastrous scheme.

Besides going fast, what does a car allow people to do that they couldn’t before?

Cars allow people to travel longer distances more conveniently, access remote areas, transport goods efficiently, and have greater independence in their daily lives. They also enable emergency services to respond quickly, support economic growth by facilitating trade, and provide opportunities for leisure travel that were previously impractical.

Yes, they make things faster and easier.

My question was what do cars let us do now that we couldn’t before.

We moved heavy objects and traveled long distances long before cars.

They let us do things efficiently. Sure, you could have moved a truckload of goods up the coast using 20 wagons, 40 mules, 20 drivers, 10 security, and a week's time. Today, one dude can move a truckload of goods up the coast same day.

(Numbers have been entirely fabricated, feel free to send adjustments.)

Going faster and carrying more is enough to enable things that aren't otherwise possible.

For example, I can take my kids to visit their cousins for the day and make it home by bedtime.

Travel [long distance], relatively safely, in [short time].

LA to NY is a long roadtrip, but you can do it in 2-3 days with a few friends to rotate drivers. Walking that is a months long journey with a very real risk of death if you don't have a support vehicle.

Utilize car washes.

Go through drive-thrus.

I got yelled at once at the bank in my office's parking lot for going to the drive up ATM instead of going inside to a teller. So they definitely agree with that. Not allowed to walk through a drive through.

Shit, you right.

In a day I can travel many times farther than I can walk, carrying hundreds or thousands of pounds of stuff with me if needed.

Reach farther places? Move around heavy loads?

People traveled almost the entire world and built pyramids before cars were invented.

They make it easier and faster, but don’t add new capabilities

I think "carrying something heavy without slavery being involved" is a new capability compared to "enslaving people and making them carry something heavy".

are you serious?

Yea

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