Ginger (or, Neo-Schumpeterians Killer App?)

Gordon Fitch gcf at panix.com
Mon Dec 3 07:24:17 PST 2001



> <http://www.time.com/time/business/printout/0,8816,186660,00.html>
>
> Dec. 02, 2001
> Reinventing the Wheel

The problem with vehicles like this (if I'm guessing correctly about its attributes) is similar to that faced by other alternatives to full-sized motor vehicles, e.g. bicycles, motorcycles, skateboards, wheelchairs and the like: the users are seen as politically inferior to those who use the more expensive vehicles and so are literally marginalized, physically and legally threatened, and often forced off the roads into pedestrian space. The conflict, if something so one-sided can be called a conflict, revolves around the issue of who has the right to space, especially urban space. In America, at least, the answer is usually "those who have, display and utilize greater wealth". Gentry adoption of bicycles and skates in New York City has not seemed to make much difference.

-- Gordon



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