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A comment on What is the point of imagining new technologies without new ways of living?. Parent comment

Re:What is the point of imagining new technologies without n... by smnrchrds on Thursday January 06, 2022 @10:39AM (#29824886)
> Even on a personal level, say a car lets me do a trip in 30 minutes instead of 2 hours walking. I don't relax for an hour and a half.

And that's why building highways does not reduce average commute time—people just move further from the downtown where they work. If you build a new highway that cuts commute time in half, on the population level, the sprawl increases until average population is twice as far and their commute remains the same.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What is the point of imagining new technologies without n... by sokoloff on Thursday January 06, 2022 @12:42PM (#29826806)
They may very well be happier because they (as evidenced by their choices) prefer to live in a detached house and have a yard over having a shorter commute.

Cars and the highway enabled that increase in happiness, even if commute times are unchanged.

[ Parent | on HN ]