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1/ Don't buy the hype. Flying cars (like AVs and hyperloops) will not reduce congestion. Instead, they will undermine our democracy and supercharge sprawl.
Check out my latest
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2020/05/28/481148/flying-cars-will-undermine-democracy-environment/
Check out my latest
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2020/05/28/481148/flying-cars-will-undermine-democracy-environment/
2/ Our policy conversation seems overwhelmingly guided by ways to get elites places faster. We swoon over technoutopian sales pitches instead of undertaking simple and effective solutions like bus only lanes, congestion pricing, and fixing sidewalks.
3/ And why are flying cars so attractive to elites? Because they offer the tantalizing possibility of realizing the dual demand for hyperseclusion and hyperaccess.
4/ Flying cars represent a political danger because they undermine the shared experience necessary for a functioning democracy.
Solving the biggest societal challenges requires collective action. But people don't care about problems they can opt out of.
Solving the biggest societal challenges requires collective action. But people don't care about problems they can opt out of.
5/ Aristotle argues in Politics that "salvation of the community is the common business of them all." But for elites, the community worth saving is likely to be a very narrow one.
6/ Beyond exacerbating existing patterns of isolation and exclusion, flying cars will also be an environmental disaster.
We typically focus on tailpipe emissions. But battery-electric flying cars will have huge second-order negative effects on land use and resource consumption.
We typically focus on tailpipe emissions. But battery-electric flying cars will have huge second-order negative effects on land use and resource consumption.
7/ Additionally, travel habits and choices evolve in response to technology. What starts as a novelty becomes the daily reality. Cars allow for trip frequency and distance unimaginable to our forebearers stuck on horses. So too will flying cars become embedded.
8/ Flying cars should not receive public subsidies.
9/ Flying cars are the mobility equivalent of trick-down economics.
Let's not forget that in the coming years. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2020/05/28/481148/flying-cars-will-undermine-democracy-environment/
Let's not forget that in the coming years. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2020/05/28/481148/flying-cars-will-undermine-democracy-environment/