@Elizafox@social.treehouse.systems
Post #3933779
2026-07-19 03:14 UTC
@Hex@kolektiva.social Meanwhile, the road (:P) not taken: electric cars existed in the early days, but they opted for the cheaper "use petroleum" approach rather than the electric approach. "What could have been" etc. People even noted back then it was stupid to use fuels that they knew would run out and weren't particularly good for people, and that the smart thing was to use renewable resources and find ways to harness that. Yes, they even knew about climate change, in the 1800s, when experiments were done with carbon dioxide, and yes people warned about the potential for planetary warming if done on scale. (There's this pervasive myth that somehow they were stupid in the past, they were not, just "the winner writes the history book" sort of deal).
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@Elizafox@social.treehouse.systems 2026-07-19 03:15
@Hex@kolektiva.social Also people act like railways were better, they were expensive because they were all privately run and most people could not afford to travel. Throughout most of human history, the #1 way to get around was to walk. This was the case right up until everyone had a car. If you couldn't walk, you couldn't go anywhere. This is why it was such a big deal back in the day for the courthouse to be in the middle of the county: if you had to go to the courthouse, you had to be able to walk there in a day.