Like any capitalist project, the urban development that the latter days Luddites criticize creates both, private profits and public benefits: jobs, tax base, better and safer environment, neighborhood effects - to name a few. It creates better material conditions than the slums and the junkyards it destroys. It also comes at a cost, which is upsetting the people who live in those slums and have stakes in those junkyards, and who naturally oppose the development for that reason.
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A strong statement. But it leads to an obvious question.
Can you cite examples of urban development projects which, in defiance of knowledgeble critics' objections and predictions, have proven over time to be generally beneficial?
The critical bit there is "in defiance of knowledgeble critics' objections and predictions". I'm not concerned with what so-called "luddites" have to say, I'm interested in learning more about projects which were attacked by thoughful people that later turned out alright.
Examples?
.d.
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Quantum mechanics is the coolest thing ever invented, ever.
Sean Carrol, physicist