On 7/2/07, shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
However - India might see some sense when cars actually begin to hurt i.e when roads AND lungs are clogged.
Well, that's been the case in Blr for a while now (even Sunday traffic is bad nowadays) and I don't see anything, car production or registration in particular, slowing down... Is there any science fiction based on the premise of fossil fuels having run, and the world returning, perforce, to the much slower pace of pre-electricity/ pre-petroleum communication/travel? Is there any speculation about how the present-day population would manage in such a scenario? Deepa. On 7/2/07, shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Sunday 01 Jul 2007 11:04 pm, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: > And more over this phenomenon is a problem beyond just the > environment. In a society with no social guarantees of income and > health care, how does a majority of India justify putting aside a huge > portion of their income towards a car? There is a flaw in this argument. It does not matter how many people are poor and starving, as long as YOU can afford a car and understand that it is your business to own a car and keep living "well" as per your definition. It requires a degree of altruism to think of society before yourself. "Thinking of society" itself is a bit of a bluff. If you look at North America and Europe human endeavor has wiped out most of the forest cover and most of the larger wildlife forms. Having done that there is now realization that this is not good for "me" therefore one starts talking altruism and questioning others' motives and saying 'Ahh do not unto yourselves what I have done unto me" The car itself was a bad invention. The US is not going to get rid of the disease. However - India might see some sense when cars actually begin to hurt i.e when roads AND lungs are clogged. Till then - whatmeworry. On a different note Indians come in all flavors. When the internet first got going in India a decade or so ago I used to visit fora where Indians would lament that lack of innovation in India and quote the Ambassador car as an example of that and say how even Malaysia had a car of its own. Ten years down the line - the advent of real cheap cars has people getting into a tizzy over more cars. Ironic. Where's the "rolleyes" icon? shiv
