Cars and Video Tape

So I hate cars right? No, thats not true. Its really not. I just don't like the system of cars. There is some better perfect system out there that combines Cars, Public Transit and good old fashioned pedestrianism. The thing is, somehow, Cars just got father into our culture than they were supposed to. There is no earth shattering next developement to displace the car. Its like the day video tape took over the Earth. Hold on, I'll explain.

For years and years there were records. Then came magnetic tape. Its more convienient, but not particularly better. It allowed people to listen to music in a smaller more practical form. Music was much more portable. It was great. Then to movies. Home ownership of movies was nearly non-existant. The video tape revolutionized the movie industry. Its difficult to say in strong enough words, but the video tape changed everything about the movie industry.

That said...Tape sucks. Its an awful type of technology. It degrades itself every time you play it. It was the idea of an easily portable and recordable delivery system that was great. So then came the laser. Cds, Laserdisc, DVDs, Rewritable Discs. Digital Information.

What happened was that the technology of magnetic tape was replaced by digital information. The same great benefit, but in a far better form.

AND.....

That format lead to newer and better advances. The Mp3. Downloads. Ipods. Something magnetic tape has no part in.

Tape did its job. It ushered in a new era of media and entertainment. And now its gone. In its place are a multitude of different options. All allowing entertainment seekers to get their media in just about whatever form they prefer.

So the car right? If magnetic tape is the car, then CDs are....well I just don't know. They'd be some sort of electric car that can be driven separately on roads and then connect to a commuter train and then fold up into a briefcase or something.

The point of all this is that our system of automobile dependance is as though we were all still buying our music on cassette tapes. Electric and hybrid cars would be an upgrade to CDs perhaps, but without the possibilities of ipods, mp3s, downloads, or anything else. So while our media systems have advanced well into the future, our Cities are still stuck in 1986.

-T