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1. Tiktaa+(OP)[view] [source] 2023-05-19 00:24:43
> you get to wait 30+ min for a train

That's an implementation detail of a very old and underinvested system.

In contrast with Vancouver's automated skytrain, waits for trains are typically 2-4 minutes.

Better things are possible

replies(1): >>mwbajo+Gd
2. mwbajo+Gd[view] [source] 2023-05-19 02:35:59
>>Tiktaa+(OP)
With my car, I don't have to wait at all and I can go straight home.

I don't believe all these posts against cars are from humans, especially on this website. Surely, technologically savvy folks like us would have learned to appreciate why decentralized systems (like cars) are better than centralized systems (like mass transit) for their flexibility.

replies(2): >>woodru+0i >>userbi+Uq
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3. woodru+0i[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-05-19 03:25:28
>>mwbajo+Gd
> With my car, I don't have to wait at all and I can go straight home.

Manhattan, famous for its congestion-free streets :-)

Calling cars "decentralized" is funny, and more than a little ridiculous: American car culture is a result of centralized planning, both of highways and cities. It'd be more accurate to call them "individualized," with the misaligned incentives and commons failures that that implies.

replies(1): >>mwbajo+DQ1
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4. userbi+Uq[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-05-19 04:55:19
>>mwbajo+Gd
I don't believe all these posts against cars are from humans, especially on this website.

I certainly believe they are from humans.

Surely, technologically savvy folks like us would have learned to appreciate why decentralized systems (like cars) are better than centralized systems (like mass transit) for their flexibility.

But many humans are easily persuaded by FUD ("climate crisis" and all that other hogwash.)

replies(1): >>amroch+AP
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5. amroch+AP[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-05-19 09:00:16
>>userbi+Uq
So everyone who disagrees with you has been brainwashed?
replies(1): >>mwbajo+BP1
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6. mwbajo+BP1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-05-19 15:46:11
>>amroch+AP
Yea. Especially folks that lived in cities their whole life and Europeans that are surprised it takes more than 4 hours to drive from NYC to Florida.
replies(1): >>amroch+Xv2
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7. mwbajo+DQ1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-05-19 15:51:07
>>woodru+0i
Its not funny. Its accurate. Roads are more decentralized than trains.

Your argument is anti-scientific in a way. We see in nature that decentralized systems are more robust yet you are arguing the opposite.

replies(1): >>woodru+432
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8. woodru+432[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-05-19 16:54:35
>>mwbajo+DQ1
My point was that they're "decentralized" in the least interesting way: they exist as a "decentralized" structure only by overwhelming centralized effort. Calling them decentralized is like calling suburbia decentralized: it's not even wrong.

Decentralization is not a virtue (or end) in itself when it comes to public infrastructure. Robustness is also not intrinsically tied to it, and there are a variety of senses in which the American road network is not particularly robust: congestion and unsustainable funding schemes are just the first two that come to mind.

replies(1): >>mwbajo+js2
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9. mwbajo+js2[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-05-19 19:07:51
>>woodru+432
" in the least interesting way"

Who cares about being interesting, I can go around outages in the network with a car where trains can't.

You should be arguing for smaller cars not less of them.

replies(1): >>woodru+xv2
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10. woodru+xv2[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-05-19 19:30:21
>>mwbajo+js2
> Who cares about being interesting, I can go around outages in the network with a car where trains can't.

You, ostensibly[1]!

> You should be arguing for smaller cars not less of them.

I'd be more than happy to take both :-)

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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11. amroch+Xv2[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-05-19 19:32:40
>>mwbajo+BP1
Maybe you're just part of a minority and struggle to come to terms with that
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