Is Driving Evil?

[Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher]

No, no, I haven't converted to the Amish, but they've got a point. If there's a god they would be only ones being saved. Luckily there are many, many gods you can pray to, particularly when you are alone riding a bicycle on the road. And the Banana Goddess (mother nature) favors those riding bikes. Funny, many Amish can't ride bikes.

On Tuesday, May 13, 2014 11:16:36 AM UTC-4, mobile traveler wrote:
> On 5/12/2014 9:23 PM, Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher wrote:
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> > On Monday, May 12, 2014 3:43:38 PM UTC-4, mobile traveler wrote:

> >> Who exactly are you identifying as _your__ "god", monkey boy?
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> > Banana Goddess aka. Mother Nature, most powerful goddess that can throw a hurricane
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> How many times have you fallen off your bike, monkey boy?

Actually I tripped coming out of a gas station a couple of days ago and almost killed myself. I guess the Banana Goddess watches over me riding a bike, not when I do something evil like driving.

Drivers would get killed if god weren't their copilot.


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http://thetibetanmonkey.tumblr.com

[Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher]

On Wednesday, May 14, 2014 12:52:10 PM UTC-4, Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher wrote:
> On Wednesday, May 14, 2014 8:31:45 AM UTC-4, Malcolm McMahon wrote:

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> > On Tuesday, 13 May 2014 17:27:49 UTC+1, Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher  wrote:
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> > > No, no, I haven't converted to the Amish, but they've got a point. If there's a god they would be only ones being saved. Luckily there are many, many gods you can pray to, particularly when you are alone riding a bicycle on the road. And the Banana Goddess (mother nature) favors those riding bikes. Funny, many Amish can't ride bikes.
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> > Well, you could argue that the decision to drive on some occasion creates a possibility that someone (possibly yourself) will die as a result. However good a driver you are accidents are still possible.
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> > As a society we consider the social benefits of motor transport outweigh the road deaths.
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> > But, as a moral agent, is the difference between drunk driving and just driving a difference of degree?
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> > And even cyclists occasional injure other people, albeit mostly when motorists swerve to avoid them.
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> Yes, the issue is how to minimize the impact of the automobile, both in terms of pollution and accidents.
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> The first strategy is NOT to make god your copilot, for example, but to make the driver's license more strict. Keep the idiots off the road. It works as well to ban the cell phones and other distractions. You in the UK have better laws aimed at prevention (such as lane discipline) as well as smaller cars, and they all provide better results than Jesus.
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> Bicycles and slow alternative vehicles could be accommodated on the inner lane (left for you) on city streets. My nearest thoroughfare bans NEVs (small street-legal vehicles) from ever been an effective choice. The bicycle as you know is Russian Roulette. They come and attack at will. I could use an electric bicycle to effectively move in a 15 mile radius. That's a lot. The car could better be used for farther distances.
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> Does Jesus riding a donkey have a message for the world? I think being a bum himself, removed from the rat race, he would ride a beach cruiser. Yes, they come electric too...
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> http://images.gizmag.com/hero/pedego.jpg
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> That's a beauty to behold. By the way, has anyone in the world come to the defense of donkeys being abused?
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> I'll make it more direct: Did Jesus abuse that donkey?

OK, OK, I get the point, donkeys make us look stupid:

"You cannot force a donkey to do anything.　 Beating will only make him more persistent.　 More persistent leads to more frustration on the part of the abuser.　 More frustration leads to more beating.　 You can beat most animals into doing anything including killing themselves.　 You cannot do this to a donkey.　 Simply stated, they make us look stupid."

http://www.donkeyrescue.org/donkey_abuse

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The question is why the donkey made Jesus look smart? I don't get it. We philosophers don't have every possible answer. Maybe it you talk sweet to a donkey, it'll make him move?

[Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher]

I have found that the single act of driving a car is not evil, but forcing people to drive is very evil. It's capitalism at its worst that forces us to drive everywhere, often needing a jungle vehicle (SUV) to survive in the jungle. But, of course, there's hope:

On Wednesday, May 14, 2014 12:15:01 PM UTC-4, rst9 wrote:
> On Tuesday, May 13, 2014 11:18:33 PM UTC-7, Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher wrote:
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> > A cheap car costs $13K, a hybrid costs at least twice as much.
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> > How do you close the gap? How would you bring the price of technology down to earth?
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> You must have heard of a "hydrogen car",
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> a car that uses hydrogen as fuel such as
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> our sun is using.  The by-product of such
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> a car is water which we need to grow our
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> food, our trees,... which in turn produce
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> lumber for our housing...

Are they in production?

To me the car has these issues:

- The pollution it produces

- The manufacturing process itself is very polluting

- The deadly accidents they cause

- The isolation of the car, ie. being in a cage

It seems these cars can fit a niche around the community with fewer of the issues above:

NEVs or LSVs:

"The big news on the 2002 GEM is the bounce in horsepower of the 72-volt, GE-built DC motor from 3.5 to 5.0, as well as a new gearbox, a revised interior, and new fiberglass doors. On a percentage basis, that extra power is the same as a Corvette moving from 350 to 500 horsepower! In absolute terms, it's like having a supplementary hedge-trimmer motor aboard. Combined with more aggressive gearing, the result is an 1100-to-1280-pound machine that's not heinously slow. It reaches its 25-mph top speed just as the traffic packed behind it is able to move into another lane and around."

http://www.caranddriver.com/news/gem-e825-car-news

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If we dedicate the inner lane to Low Speed Vehicles, including the bicycle, we got ourselves a solution. And the revolution is about solutions.

This is what we will do as soon as we can lay our hands on a little republic (such as Donetsk People's Republic) and we can try our ideas. All these ideas must be tried on the ground and promoted.

[robert...@gmail.com]

Having got rid of my Cadillac, I can honestly say that my 'driving' is still distinctly evil, as my 180 BHP Triumph Vitesse (triple Webers, stage IV engine, straight through exhaust etc.) uses almost as much fuel and is twice as fast and three times noisier. Yet such fun to drive.... heheheheheh!

[Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher]

Having fun once in a while, is something I do myself. l like small powerful cars because they are so much fun.

Just looked it up. It sounds like a lot of fun, and not a cage! ;)