Originally Posted by
bragi
Getting back on track: I really don't think it's the cars that make people less human. I encounter hundreds of drivers every day who actually act as though I, on the bike, am a human being who shouldn't be run over. Many of them even go out of their way to be polite, sometimes to an extent that unnecessarily screws up the flow of traffic.
Well... a human being gets in a car, turns on the engine, and the radio, and drives... no, this does not dehumanize. It's the needing that car, and being unable to get anywhere without it; that's what dehumanizes. We have hired our city planners to build a road system that can only be navigated by cars. We have shifted the focus of much of our world from the person to the person in the car, with the result that we're all somewhat dehumanized.