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    ArnheimHamilton Nolan
    6/20/16 2:46pm

    Eh. My wife and I live out in the countryside in the southern US. Sure, it takes twenty minutes to get anywhere with significant shopping/medical/government services, but it’s quiet, and we have built-in entertainment in the form of the various and sundry critters that amble, slither, and flutter through our property.

    We are fortunate in this, I know—and the shrinking job market may eventually drive us to a major metropolitan area (which terrifies me, as crowds and choked traffic have both triggered anxiety attacks in me)—but if that’s the future, I’m happy to kick off this mortal coil long before we pave paradise to put up a parking lot.

    No disrespect to those of you who live in dense city environments, but I just do not enjoy those areas. Too many people, too many cars, and everyone’s just in too much of a hurry.

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      Al b sureArnheim
      6/20/16 2:53pm

      I would love living in a rural area if it wasn't for ignorant ass rednecks.

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      Hank ScorpioArnheim
      6/20/16 2:53pm

      There's a huge difference between being out in the country and being in a suburb. I like cities and I like wilderness/countryside, but suburbia is like the worst of both.

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    AllModConnedHamilton Nolan
    6/20/16 2:24pm

    Cash money and a good old fashioned automobile = freedom.

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      Sean BrodyAllModConned
      6/20/16 2:30pm

      Whatever works for you.

      Never really found traffic or looking for parking to feel particularly freedom-y.


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      SeaBeastRisingSean Brody
      6/20/16 2:33pm

      That’s why you move to the burbs, bub.

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    tito_swinefluHamilton Nolan
    6/20/16 2:38pm

    Driverless cars solve a stupid problem. That problem being, “I don’t want to make the effort to drive, but I don’t want to have to sit next to anyone while not driving and I am completely comfortable wasting the resources associated with private cars.” That’s not a real problem. The real problem is fixed with trains.

    I’m sure that if everyone could sit and play on snapchat while their car drove them around, they’d be happy to live in the suburbs. It’s a solution entirely driven by selfishness. We need fewer cars on the roads, not more robot cars.

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      BCDFGtito_swineflu
      6/20/16 2:51pm

      Agreed. It just comes down to this: space efficiency (or lack thereof). I’m sure people will love being driven all alone in their own vehicles, but FFS, every vehicle design I’ve seen (even the compact ones) strike me as totally wasteful of space.

      Mandatory citation:

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      stymie99tito_swineflu
      6/20/16 2:56pm

      Right, the 200 year old technology of choo-choo trains locked into following the same fixed in place, incredibly expensive to install and maintain tracks of steel....that’s the fix for the real problems of the 21st century.

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    fudgesicleuighyrHamilton Nolan
    6/20/16 2:25pm

    Robot cars: now you can work during your commute too! (TM)

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      Joe Twelvepackfudgesicleuighyr
      6/20/16 2:27pm

      Actually now I can masturbate with both hands

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      BCDFGfudgesicleuighyr
      6/20/16 2:33pm
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    MimiladyHamilton Nolan
    6/20/16 3:50pm

    Most people don’t mind living in suburbs? Do these people know what the suburbs are actually like?? Jeebus. I’d rather rent a one-bedroom with no yard for the rest of my life in a nice neighbourhood of a city I love than own a huge house in the burbs. Hand down. Although as other have pointed out in the comments, the suburbs and the country are not the same. I’d live in the country if I could drive somewhere reasonably developed in 20-30 minutes and my house was completely surrounded by trees. And a lake would be a plus. Actually I just want to live at the cottage and never go to the office again. sigh.

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      NicoMimilady
      6/21/16 2:53pm

      Seriously? I'd prefer to live in a rural area, but you couldn't pay me to live in a city, which is why I live in the burbs now. It's quiet, private, I don't know my neighbors names, and I live within walking distance from a few bars/restaurants. Suburbia is awesome if you hate people but want to be vaguely close to civilization.

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      MimiladyNico
      6/21/16 3:36pm

      I dunno, to me suburbia is the worst of both worlds- houses close enough to see and be aware of the neighbours but devoid of interest, beauty or culture. Conformism. Boredom. Cars. Lawns. Ugly houses. :-( I grew up in a city and when I was 15 we moved for three years to a burb- I practically instantly started using drugs and a year later I quit high school.

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    Cam/ronHamilton Nolan
    6/20/16 2:33pm

    In the past several years there’s been an interesting conflict within the Left between the sentiments of “Bomb the phony suburbs! Live in the City! Diversity! Authenticity!” and “No, no, stop coming to the City, you’re gentrifying everything!”

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      Misteaks were madeCam/ron
      6/20/16 2:36pm

      Read right here on HamNO’s column.

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      theunseenoneCam/ron
      6/20/16 2:42pm

      They can’t make up their minds.

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    ArdenHamilton Nolan
    6/20/16 2:45pm

    Tangent: Driverless cars would allow law enforcement to fuck with you endlessly. Your on board computer would have to be programmed to obey cops or emergency vehicles on the road. This means either reacting to their sirens/lights and auto pulling over, or (specifically the LEO) would have override powers on your vehicle. And a cop being able to halt your car with the flip of a switch, any time, anywhere, for any reason, can be a dangerous thing, especially if your skin tone is anything darker than milk.

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      Prada LovelaceArden
      6/20/16 3:38pm

      And a cop being able to halt your car with the flip of a switch, any time, anywhere, for any reason, can be a dangerous thing, especially if your skin tone is anything darker than milk.

      To be fair, there’s little stopping the police from stopping whomever they want to stop now.

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      ScalfinArden
      6/20/16 3:47pm

      Of course, that might also mean we’ll see the end of the war between vehicle soundproofing and siren volume. Nothing worse than being a pedestrian cought in that (except possibly having an apartment near a hospital).

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    ad infinitumHamilton Nolan
    6/20/16 2:38pm

    I moved from LA (Koreatown) to Torrance about a year and a half ago, and I’d had no conception of how sick I was of the big city until I got out of it. I love the bigger stores and the enormous parking lots. I love the wider roads and fewer drivers. I love that I can go to the grocery store or PetCo or Target whenever I want without having to plan for the time and aggravation necessary to snag one of the few narrow spots. I love that I can take my dogs without worrying that they’re going to get hit because the lots are so small there’s barely room to walk. I love that I don’t have to have cars towed from the parking spot I pay for two or three times a month. Hell, I even love the Torrance cable channel.

    I realize all of this makes me very old and uncool. I’m OK with that.

    (Of course, now I have to move to Orange County for my job, and I’m not remotely OK with that, but c’est la vie. Better employed in Santa Ana than homeless in South Bay. Though right now I could really use a self-driving car for my miserable and endless commute from Torrance to Costa Mesa.)

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      Punchinelload infinitum
      6/20/16 2:47pm

      I used to live in the Torrance area. I know that the South Bay is far less urban than alot of LA and it is definietly less urban that Korea Town, but I always felt it wasn’t quite suburban. It hit that sweet spot between suburban and urban that was perfect and I loved it.

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      ad infinitumPunchinello
      6/20/16 2:59pm

      It really doesn’t feel suburban at all, other than everything closing by 11 p.m.

      I’m right down the hill from Palos Verdes, a couple of miles east of the beaches in Redondo, and I love it so much I don’t really have words. I love the parks. I love how dog-friendly everything is. I love that it’s consistently 10-15 degrees cooler than surrounding areas. Other than the hellish commute, pretty much the only thing I don’t love is the coyotes, which have become a serious threat over the last year.

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    Frankenbike666Hamilton Nolan
    6/20/16 3:02pm

    There is a point in city life, where you realize you will not be able to squeeze out enough money from your career to live comfortably or raise a family. This is why the suburbs exist.

    Here’s why suburbs aren’t going to collapse and are thriving where the suburb has its shit together. Property value and taxes. Suburbs are becoming cities of their own, attracting small and large manufacturers and their accompanying warehouse and transportation jobs.

    Everything about running a business that actually involves physical things, is cheaper in a suburb. The land is cheaper, the labor is cheaper and can live better, the roads are less crowded to move goods, no one pays for parking anywhere. With autonomous vehicles, you don’t need added road density, and you could probably get universal autonomous car conformity in a small sub-city than you can in a city with millions of people.

    A sub-city can mandate that all new roofing include solar-electric generation. Much harder with all of the competing interests in a big city.

    When the rising prices of maintaining businesses in the big city drives out all of the old restaurants and bars, when gentrification is complete, cities will lose the one advantage they have over suburbs: authenticity over chains. I think you may find more authenticity among newer restaurants in older suburbs. It’s cheaper to open a Pho or Pan-African place in the ‘burbs.

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      Colorado_Car_EnthusiastFrankenbike666
      6/20/16 3:41pm

      A star for you!

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      Frankenbike666Frankenbike666
      6/20/16 4:16pm

      Addendum: those manufacturing businesses and logistics services also require management and office space. There will also be lawyers. The ones who can’t make it into the big time, big pay city law firms.

      What I’ve seen over the last few years, is that what used to be a suburb, now is a city in itself with its own sprawl. With its own neighborhoods for the really rich. I’ve seen this in several states.

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    Misteaks were madeHamilton Nolan
    6/20/16 2:27pm

    If your idea of an ideal future looks like Coruscant, you have issues.

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      spad13Misteaks were made
      6/20/16 2:30pm

      Maybe he’s talking about Asimov’s Caves of Steel

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      alphashadowMisteaks were made
      6/20/16 2:48pm

      This seems very dope to me. That universe has entire garden planets, probably sustained by the revenues collected on city planets, which are very much in reach. Give me that future.

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