I would like to thank everyone who replied to my recent post about
bikes, gas, health, and money. It was around my birthday and I was very
depressed thinking that i just couldn't articulate my position.
First, I'd like to say that it's good to see that there is still some
civility and productivity on Usenet! I had despaired of ever seeing it
again; most of my groups from years ago had been taken over by spam,
proselytizers, flamers, dominance struggles, and internecine warfare.
Second, I'd like to thank whoever used the phrase "mug's game." It's
just so more concise and expressive than "sucker's game." Also, i'm
glad to see that not only are there plenty of bike commuters, there are
also happy car-free folks as well.
Here's what I learned:
A lot of people here, like me, "need" a good shot of biking before work
to "feel normal." do we need a 12-step program?
Next, not only am I articulate with respect to my position, but many
people on the group had already done some previous serious thinking
about stopping the redistribution of wealth from cyclists to drivers.
Going even deeper into the issue of efficient transportation, people had
already given thought to electrifying diesel rail lines and roads.
I would have thought that advocacy for efficiency and health and against
waste would be a common citizen's duty. But I learned a whole new angle
I never would have thought of. it seems there is an "us" and a "them"
and of course "us" would commute by bike, but "them" would just never
conceive of it as a thing which can be done. In normal times, an us is
free to accumulate wealth via efficiency relative to a typical them. In
emergency times, the bottom edge of them may not be able to handle an
extra $50 or $100 a month in fuel costs; reposessions may take place,
things may fall apart. Some thems may discover they are really an us,
but even more of us may use their accumulated wealth to buy the
reposessed goods of them and generally improve our prospects; a natural
selection sort of thing.
Some people even identify a condition in which a female them would not
seek to mate with a male them, although any male us seems to be ready to
mate with a female them. I find that female thems are eager to enter
pre-mating rituals with an alpha us, but i have no data about actual
mating and bonding.
If we look at ourselves in full kit, something interesting emerges.
Padded compression shorts and toe-clip shoes, wild colors on a jersey,
crested, ventilated, airstream, visored helmets, a camel pack, and
especially a third-eye mirror give us a not-quite-human appearance.
Could we be in the process of speciating?
Anyway, thanks again for the present!
--ag