To A World Without Cars

Rachel, can you ever imagine a world without cars?

To me, what would be interesting about a world without cars is that it would partly reverse a sad isolationist trend that's come along with the power and control given to us by modern technology. Back when I didn't bike, I used take the AC Transit to work every day, and there were a lot of strange people on those trips. Gangs of nine year old gangster kids drunk up in the back. Little old ladies muttering racist slurs at asian students. A guy who hadn't showered in so long his clothes had gone partially transparent from the grease. I don't think I was ever in any danger, but it sure made me uneasy sometimes when I was caught in the middle of things. I now either bike or drive, so it's not really an issue anymore. But strangely, I find myself missing that chance to interact with people who I didn't choose to interact with.

It seems like every time we get more power--such as inventing an engine that can move us around--we use it to get more control (now I can encase myself in a metal shield that prevents any accidental congress with the outside world). You can see this in a bunch of other technologies too: efficient worldwide shipping and postage means you don't need to go outside to shop. Communication moving online means you can block people you don't like rather than having to deal with them. Your headphones surrounds you in another world of sound, symbolizing others to not bother you. You can GPS track your kids so they won't ever end up lost or at the wrong sort of party. And those are all good things that give you more control over your environment.


But they also isolate you.


Unknown experiences are fundamentally scary; so scary that we feel more afraid of walking in a dark alley than we do of heart disease. Like every generation before us, we strike out against danger with the power of our tools. But our dangers are, at this point, largely invented. We're getting to a point where instead of being safe, we'll just be cocooned in a real-world filter bubble, where we never have to fear the unknown, uncontrollable, unsanitised real world that gets forced on us when we get on a bus or walk around a city. I suspect, for all our newfound safety, we'll just feel a bit unsatisfied.