[FRIAM] the Commons and Convenience

[Carl Tollander]

I find that if I have a more economical vehicle, that I'm somehow motivated
to drive more.  " Fuel Economy" may here be more of a dimensional collapse
to a more easily apprehended category.   Anyhow....

Why is that?   The hybrid car (RAV4 hybrid) will gradually train me, via
feedback availability ("look how 'our" regenerative braking is working,
hey, don't watch the dash screen too much") and tiny rewards ("good work,
your eco score is 80, try to work on your acceleration") to drive in a
certain way.   I can see that happening, and that I'm slightly uncomfy
about being so trainable, but yes, at 50MPG I feel somewhat virtuous, even
if I am driving 25 up Agua Fria.  Works better than the "Your Speed"
implied threat of a ticket devices placed around the city.  Not unlike
being glued to a phone screen.

Despite all that, I suspect people rebel at things that are good for the
commons because they dislike the idea of giving up some notion of their
free will as a consequence of (even indirectly) serving the commons.

In a similar vein, I find myself reading Isabelle Stengers these days, alas
in many respects because I am an English major and am easily attracted to
(deceived by?) interesting usage of commas.
http://openhumanitiespress.org/books/download/Stengers_2015_In-Catastrophic-Times.pdf
.
I used to enjoy Thomas Carlyle, on the other end of the political spectrum,
and the rhythm of the prose is, seems to me, similar.

Carl

On Mon, Nov 11, 2019 at 6:45 PM Steven A Smith <sasmyth at swcp.com> wrote:

> I'd say "it's hard to share"... any "Commons" and maybe even moreso when
> the Commons in question require big investment and technological
> development...   but I'm not quite sure why... it is as if whatever the
> Commons delivers, we expect more?
>
> It is also hard to give up "convenience", once habituated toit.   I can
> barely imagine tying up a hardwired phone line to get 300 or 1200bps
> internet service today... I think I'd probably do without somehow.  I
> once walked, ran, rode my bike miles and miles to get where I needed to
> go (school, work, etc.) but now that I have been conditioned to jumping
> in a heated/AC car and driving 60-80 mph with a good quality sound
> system and dozens of radio stations, hundreds of CDs ripped to the hard
> drive and Bluetooth audio to allow me to chat with family and friends or
> do some business or listen to a podcast, I'd have a hard time even going
> back to driving 55 or having to leave my windows down to keep from
> feeling a little hot on a warm day, much less live with my own singing
> or a small handful of scratchy AM stations.
>
> I think if I *lost* some of those conveniences for a while, I'd welcome
> the lesser things back in a heart beat.
>
> > Of course. And it's not only with broadband:
> >
> > Separate and Unequal Train Service Returns
> >
> https://www.dcreport.org/2019/10/18/separate-and-unequal-train-service-returns/
> >
> > Yet another personal anecdote -- Up until about a month or so ago, I was
> an advocate for public transportation, in particular trains, buses, light
> rail, etc. But Renee' needed her car worked on, the shop being *VERY* close
> to a trolley stop in Portland. So, rather than me burning lots of gas
> driving my 12 mpg truck up there to pick her up [†], then driving it back
> up there to drop her off, I recommended she take the trolley to the light
> rail, then I could pick her up at the light rail stop, here. It's important
> to note that her employer provides free public transit rides and all she
> needs is her nursing badge to board any bus or train in the Metro area.
> >
> > But even though the auto shop is only a few blocks from the trolley
> stop, she *refused* to take it. It was much more convenient for her to have
> me slice out 2 hours (1 hour per trip) of my day, burn a bunch of gas, etc.
> than it was to ride the train(s). And she's (ostensibly) also an advocate
> for public transportation.
> >
> > This episode challenged my understanding of infrastructure. I don't
> think Renee's alone in this. I've heard people complain of the tiniest
> things about their public trans trips ... someone smacking their food ...
> someone with body odor ... the drunk guy passed out on the seat ... someone
> clipping their toenails ... etc. They all sound like rationalizations, to
> me. Whatever the deeper cause, there's something about us as a people that
> prevents effective sharing. So, I'm now considering changing all my
> advocacy from public transportation to massive swarms of publicly owned,
> self-driving, electric cars. And I'll start trashing Amtrak and Portland's
> TriMet every chance I get. 8^)
> >
> >
> >
> > [†] I could have picked her up on my 55 mpg motorcycle. But my guess is
> she would have chafed at having to carry and put on her gear for such a
> short ride ... plus it was a bit cold and all that other "discomfort".
> >
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
> archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
> FRIAM-COMIC <http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/FRIAM-COMIC>
> http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20191111/37e22a33/attachment.html>