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The end of civilisation as we know it?

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Not likely in our lifetime, though I'd be happy with less traffic on the roads.
 
Of course Americans are driving less...there's no more room to park. Soon we'll follow Bermuda's lead and limit households to 1, 4-wheeled vehicle.
 
Interesting that they reference the love affair with cars - I suspect for most people and most cars they've just been going through the motions for years. :smile:
 
Yep... the decline begin with the current crop of <35 year olds. My kids had no passion to even drive until they were 18 (and one I to sort of FORCE to get a license before heading off to university).

I wonder, too, about collecting a car from the 1990s. [flash ahead to 2050] "Hello, I'm trying to track down the electronic control module for the climate system in a rare 1992 Ford Taurus." :p
 
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Boink said:
[flash ahead to 2050] "Hello, I'm trying to track down the electronic control module for the climate system in a rare 1992 Ford Taurus." :p
Click to expand...
lolaniredshoes.gif
 
Boink said:
Yep... the decline begin with the current crop of <35 year olds. My kids had no passion to even drive until they were 18 (and one I to sort of FORCE to get a license before heading off the university).

I wonder, too, about collecting a car from the 1990s. [flash ahead to 2050] "Hello, I'm trying to track down the electronic control module for the climate system in a rare 1992 Ford Taurus." :p
Click to expand...


Exactly, it os both and - cars became transportation (and toasters) which is a great thing for getting from point a to point b but not so much for driving.
 
Good points. In addition to the electronic control modules, what about fuel in 2050?!
 
"what about fuel in 2050?!"
Mr. Fusion?
 
Most folks own a car today as a necessity, not for the fun of driving it. Everything that comes off the press today looks like any glob that slides out of a wind tunnel! Hard to redesign a raindrop and the wind tunnel globs are the same way, they all look the same. Cars today have no personality, cars of yesteryear did! Our car today is a Jeep SUV, good to put the dogs in and for the wife to get groceries, other than that, I'm not impressed, I don't even like to drive it. My truck is 20 years old, 250,000 miles on it, runs great, looks great and I can still work on it without $40,000 worth of electronic equipment! I drive MGs and fly airplanes, preferably old ones, for fun and my tractors for work. Gotta do something!!
Look at the price of some/ALL of these piles of tin and plastic, makes one sick to think they have to spend their hard earned money to buy something that has an automatic self destruct mode timer built into it. Why do they now have a 60 month pay out, because at the end of 60 months, the car self destructs! Maybe sooner! OK, I'm just funnin! -----------------Or am I?:devilgrin: PJ

Nial,
My flux capacitor has been on the blink for a few years now! :highly_amused:
 
PJ, remember, they always had a built in self destruct button.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence VW was addressing Planned Obsolescence in an ad campaign as far back as 1959.

There is a really interesting (brief) interview with James May and Jay Leno about Honda's hydrogen car. Leno's point was that Hydrogen (which is a while away yet) would free up gasoline for hobbyists in the same way as the car freed up horses from day to day work to use for hobby and fun. I do think there was something to it. They have (on Top Gear) spoken once or twice on the point (in Britain) at which fuel becomes too expensive for personal consumption (2 pounds a litre? 3 pounds? ) and what happens then. Here, I believe, (conspiracy theory) that the oil companies would like to see $1.50 a litre gas but it stalls and drops back every time it gets to about $1.35 which suggests to me that is about the limit at which people dial back their usage.
Have heard another financial (and environmental) expert say that regulation won't significantly change emissions and greenhouse gases for the better, but that triple digit oil will as people cut back.

Of course it isn't even guaranteed that we will run out of oil

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/05/what-if-we-never-run-out-of-oil/309294/

Anyways, while we talk about cars and fuel, in many ways I think the conversation needs to really be about ships/planes/trains/buses since we will always need to move ourselves (and our goods and food) some how and I can't imagine an easy return to agrarian society with horses and buggies. In other words, there will be more official incentive than people caring about you or I - but there will be spillover.

Anyways, too much thinking early in the morning - as Tom is fond of saying, Onward through the fog!
 
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