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Fix typo "invention of". 

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voussoir 2023-10-08 10:52:00 -07:00
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@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ When my family gathers around the dinner table, one topic that always comes up f
Another part of the problem is that it feels good to punish people. We are a sadistic species and we like to coerce people into crossing boundaries so that we can feel justified in retaliating. It is less fun to design boundaries that don't get crossed. We design roadways that encourage unsafe driving and then we put up signs justifying punishment. It's dissonance. Here's a big fat five lane road that runs straight for twenty miles, but you'd better slow down to 25 because there's an elementary school here. Nevermind that the 25mph stretch of road is cut from the same cloth as the 50mph road -- it's the posted sign that makes the difference. Here's a series of traffic lights that don't coordinate with each other and will stop you just as soon as you get going, but you'd better not run any reds and you sure as hell better not get stuck in the intersection during a light change because boy I'm gonna, um, honk at you, yeah that's what I'm gonna do, and you're gonna deserve it. It is difficult to convince people that car crashes are a symptom of deep, systemic design flaws affecting average people rather than the fault of uniquely stupid individuals.
There is a freeway near me that is currently undergoing expansion, which is proven to [induce more demand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand). Smart people have known this for decades. The millions of dollars being used to put more cars on the road are not being used to improve walkability, bikeability, or reduce the need for driving in the first place by fixing our [wack zoning](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVUeqxXwCA0&t=1m43s "How Suburban Development Makes American Cities Poorer") and just allowing a grocery to open on more corners. We are the sloths. We are too stupid to live. We'd rather challenge ourselves with the invention self-driving cars and the manufacture of unspeakable quantities of batteries for EVs [footnote_link] than consider the possibility that maybe spending thousands of hours in traffic isn't an inherent part of life around which all else must bow down. You'd think they'd try something else.
There is a freeway near me that is currently undergoing expansion, which is proven to [induce more demand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand). Smart people have known this for decades. The millions of dollars being used to put more cars on the road are not being used to improve walkability, bikeability, or reduce the need for driving in the first place by fixing our [wack zoning](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVUeqxXwCA0&t=1m43s "How Suburban Development Makes American Cities Poorer") and just allowing a grocery to open on more corners. We are the sloths. We are too stupid to live. We'd rather challenge ourselves with the invention of self-driving cars and the manufacture of unspeakable quantities of batteries for EVs [footnote_link] than consider the possibility that maybe spending thousands of hours in traffic isn't an inherent part of life around which all else must bow down. You'd think they'd try something else.
NJB has made me ashamed to be American. I am ashamed that a country with this much flagrant disregard for sense touts itself as the best nation in the world. I am ashamed that the closest we can get to eco-friendliness is to make our cars run on massive batteries and steer themselves, because simply getting out of the car was never considered an option. I am ashamed that these are my surroundings and that I did not wake up from this [Matrix](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQE_5MFCekg "The Orange Pill") sooner.