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Comment by wongarsu | Hacker News Reader

The car seems like a great example of a technology with a lot of problematic side effects. Places that had a more measured adoption ended up a lot better than those that replaced all public transit with cars and routinely demolished neighborhoods to make space for bigger highways

Cars are an essential part of modern life, but the sweetspot for car adoption isn't on either of the extremes

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> Cars are an essential part of modern life

In some parts of the world perhaps? They're not an essential part of life in urban areas designed to work well without them. As in, many people can live their lives never using one, let alone owning one.

Tragedy of the commons perhaps ? Good for the individual, bad for society and finding solutions that can balance both

I'd call it bad on both levels. The costs imposed by car infrastructure are a tragedy of the commons. But even if you were the only person with a modern car you'd still be hit with the social effects of traveling in the isolation of your private metal box and the health effects of walking or biking less

On the other hand there are also big positives on both the societal and individual level. That's where the balance comes in. You want some individual travel and part of your logistics to run on cars, but not all of it. And probably a lot less of it than what most people in the 60s to 90s thought

> But even if you were the only person with a modern car you'd still be hit with the social effects of traveling in the isolation of your private metal box

For real, the amount of hate and vitriol I see expressed by people behind the “safety” of their steering wheel is unbelievable. Surely driving (excessively) leads to misanthropy like cigarettes to cancer.

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