Posted by Epoxy (66.26.80.19) on November 28, 2002 at 20:02:32:
In Reply to: Re: SUV Haters posted by Emily (68.13.144.194) on November 28, 2002 at 11:17:01:
> As far as the complaints of the bikers and horse-carriage riders, I'd say their complaints were warranted. There's not much arguement over the damage cars have done.
> -Emily
But this ignores the *benefits* cars have created as well. Freedom to travel and explore, commerce, ability to move if you need a job. The modern era was ushered in partly (maybe even mostly) by the automobile.
All technological progress is a double-edged sword that creates problems just as it creates solutions. Similar arguments about environmental damage and ecological disruption could be (and have been) made about agriculture, generation of electricity, mining, etc. But without these things there would still be only a few million people on the earth, living a stone aged sort of existence. Maybe that wouldn't be "bad", but I don't see many people selling their cars and houses and trying to live that sort of life.