This person isn't demanding that you live in their "dystopia" but asking that we stop forcing everyone through policy to live in the current one. I have to go out of my way and put my life in reckless drivers' hands just to cycle places. Maybe we could change the incentive structure of modern living so that my option is easier and driving is harder. Then everyone can still do whatever they want but there is less friction to doing the "right" thing.

It's hot places, especially if you don't have easy access to showers after biking.

You can always put on warm clothing, you can't really shed skin.

For cold places:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU

+ you know, the Netherlands, which has a cloudy and rainy and chilly climate.

Besides that, places that aren't a flat are obviously a challenge, but even that's solvable with electric bikes.

More than that, to be completely blunt, most places are not Scotland. You have a reputation for a crap climate, for a reason.

Scotland is _very_ hilly. And cold. And _rainy_. Your proposals would NOT work here. Apart from Glasgow and Edinburgh, most towns, villages and other cities here are not suitable to forgoing cars in favour of cycles - electric or not - and that's not down to a lack of cycle lanes or tracks, it's down to the practicalities of life here.

Your Utopia cannot happen, and in fact would eventually turn into a dystopia.

And disregard the tone and listen to the words.

We're supposed to be geeks here, do facts or feelings matter more?

The facts are that whoever is advocating for this have not thought past their subjective experience and are exhibiting a serious lack of empathy for the majority of human beings they quite obviously are unaware of who are living in many environments which are completely different from the ones advocating.

Most people in the world don't live in rural areas, and where they are the majority, you wouldn't want to live like that because they're subsistence farmers living in undervedeloped countries (think Somalia, Afghanistan, etc).

In developed countries and developing countries people are being "herded" in to cities, and they like it because the alternative is worse. And they are the majority.

The fact that you don't know this basic fact kind of says all there is to be said about this conversation...

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS

Also, off-topic but still relevant:

One of the greatest triumphs of civilization is urbanization. All the cradle of civilizations are called like that because they built great cities, for their time.

Neighbor noise (and other issues) is a huge issue that these threads always ignore.

I suspect that your experiences and expectations may differ from others in this thread. What are your expectations and experiences in this area?

It is why I will _never_ share walls again.

What you're really saying is that you are a person who is not bothered by neighbor noise. That's fine, you've self-selected into an environment where tolerating that is necessary. You should realize that most people find neighbor noise to be a stressor, especially as they get older.

Also, as an aside, everyone I know who below the top economic tier and lives in SF _commonly_ complains about neighbor noise. I think you might just be insensitive to it.