[lbo-talk] the petro-thusians have their moment

[Carl Remick]

>From: "Michael Dawson" <MDawson at pdx.edu>
>
>It seems to me that computer-assisted driving, satellite navigation,
>guidance magnets embedded in pavement, etc. will make existing issues of
>private cars vs. mass transportation and high vs. low population density
>obsolete.  Automatic navigation will make it possible for even infirm
>drivers to drive safely.  It will also lead to cars being much cheaper --
>smaller and more energy efficient -- because collisions would be virtually
>eliminated and there would be no safety-based rationale for large vehicles.
>
>Carl
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
>Why do you think such technology will a) appear and b) work?  Sounds like
>Duck Dodgers in the 24th-and-a-half-century to me...

Well:  (a) the technology is available now for the most part, with satellite 
navigation already in commercial use.  As for (b), of course this technology 
will work on the scale needed.  This is the USA, dadgummit!  Put a man on 
the damn moon, we did.  If we roll up our sleeves and throw a gazillion 
dollars at this thing we can retrofit our every paved inch from sea to 
shining sea as smart roads.  Whatever technical fuckups and spending 
boondoggles are involved in creating this uber-roadway, it has to offer 
better long-term ROI than the current national venture of waging global 
religious war.

Carl