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61 reviews for:
Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley gets Wrong About the Future of Transportation
Paris Marx
4.26 AVERAGE
61 reviews for:
Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley gets Wrong About the Future of Transportation
Paris Marx
4.26 AVERAGE
A lot of good stuff in here, and the foregrounding of the Tech industry is an interesting angle from which to approach otherwise established territory. Marx is at his strongest when providing history of mobility changes and its insidious effects and his weakest when speculating on Tech titans' motivations.
informative
medium-paced
Succinct, to the point criticism of techno-utopian transportation thinking, and of the broader system that thinking serves. So clear and straightforward as to be a bit dry, and I feel like I didn't learn a whole lot I didn't already know, but it's good that this book exists, and to have all of the information and arguments it contains in one well-constructed piece.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Fitting that my 60th book this year would also be the book I was perhaps most excited to read.
Paris does a fantastic job of visualizing for the reader how our cities have been controlled and built to serve capital over people. In the 20th century the automobile and now, the tech industry. While being relatively short Paris moves through several Key chapters that outline how Tech and Transportation have changed and affected us over the last 100 years. They cap off with an optimistic chapter that highlights what we can do to improve and cities/nations that are already way ahead of us here in North America.
As a Canadian who is deeply interested in improving transit, cares about the environment, is skeptical and hopes to see the end of capitalism in my lifetime; books like this excite me , but also sadden and anger me. How have we let the automobile and tech control so much of our society and lives? How are people ok with it? If only they knew!
Paris does a fantastic job of visualizing for the reader how our cities have been controlled and built to serve capital over people. In the 20th century the automobile and now, the tech industry. While being relatively short Paris moves through several Key chapters that outline how Tech and Transportation have changed and affected us over the last 100 years. They cap off with an optimistic chapter that highlights what we can do to improve and cities/nations that are already way ahead of us here in North America.
As a Canadian who is deeply interested in improving transit, cares about the environment, is skeptical and hopes to see the end of capitalism in my lifetime; books like this excite me , but also sadden and anger me. How have we let the automobile and tech control so much of our society and lives? How are people ok with it? If only they knew!
It's hard to imagine the world without cars...but it really wasn't so long ago. To Paris Marx's point, the automobile has been a luxury, a privilege , and our country has never been a mecca of equitable wealth.
At its best, Marx shares insights into the downside of ride sharing, automated driving, limited voice of those not able bodied, and the hubris of innovators like Elon Musk. Undoubtedly , we should be more concerned with road safety, modern trains, and concerned with limiting deaths on the road. Paris confirms he's not anti technology, but his argument is that marginalized peoples bear the consequences of the Silicon Valley elite.
I admire Marx's ardor and high minded principles. And yes, I believe he has only taken an uber once in his life (
https://youtu.be/KZAfcvOzQLg). But I found a lot of his arguments to be weak. Essentially he wants Silicon Valley to take on governing/socially conscious perspective. political. Calling firms like Uber parasitic and colonizers, when they are meeting a demand , including the social consciousness of its investors, seems unearned. Very little praise is given to these firms for job creation, progressivee vaims, and vastly improving most peoples lives. At its best paternal and at its worst blue meat
When we look at the solutions from Marx, socially conscious counties like France or Norway are praised for their visionary equalitiarian laws. Maybe the book is already dated, but you won't read a word about Biden's infrastructure plan or progressive cities like Chicago who have expanded bike lanes. I think stronger arguments would be made for how Silicon Valley has vastly improved our lives ..smart phones , ride sharing, hybrid vehicles and building a frictionless society are part of our blooming social world. He cities the poetic visions of Le Guin or Philip K. Dick, but offers little praise to the innovators and public that put their dollars behind them.
The problems Marx brings up are important. Segregated cities, unequal access to technology benefits, poor public transportation, and privatization of public spaces. But I don't think this book is going to share an accurate or complete story. Wouldn't it be more accurate to highlight the government's inefficiency or role in redlining. Interactions between government and commerce are limited to unions busting stories (proposal 22) and pitiful laments that we can't have meaningful interactions on sidewalks.
It's always easy to tear down, harder to down. There were plenty of naysayers for The Big Dig, the first plane, the digitization revolution. Easy to blame the people in charge for taking too much of the pie. But hey, even writers gotta pay for their rent and smartphones.
At its best, Marx shares insights into the downside of ride sharing, automated driving, limited voice of those not able bodied, and the hubris of innovators like Elon Musk. Undoubtedly , we should be more concerned with road safety, modern trains, and concerned with limiting deaths on the road. Paris confirms he's not anti technology, but his argument is that marginalized peoples bear the consequences of the Silicon Valley elite.
I admire Marx's ardor and high minded principles. And yes, I believe he has only taken an uber once in his life (
https://youtu.be/KZAfcvOzQLg). But I found a lot of his arguments to be weak. Essentially he wants Silicon Valley to take on governing/socially conscious perspective. political. Calling firms like Uber parasitic and colonizers, when they are meeting a demand , including the social consciousness of its investors, seems unearned. Very little praise is given to these firms for job creation, progressivee vaims, and vastly improving most peoples lives. At its best paternal and at its worst blue meat
When we look at the solutions from Marx, socially conscious counties like France or Norway are praised for their visionary equalitiarian laws. Maybe the book is already dated, but you won't read a word about Biden's infrastructure plan or progressive cities like Chicago who have expanded bike lanes. I think stronger arguments would be made for how Silicon Valley has vastly improved our lives ..smart phones , ride sharing, hybrid vehicles and building a frictionless society are part of our blooming social world. He cities the poetic visions of Le Guin or Philip K. Dick, but offers little praise to the innovators and public that put their dollars behind them.
The problems Marx brings up are important. Segregated cities, unequal access to technology benefits, poor public transportation, and privatization of public spaces. But I don't think this book is going to share an accurate or complete story. Wouldn't it be more accurate to highlight the government's inefficiency or role in redlining. Interactions between government and commerce are limited to unions busting stories (proposal 22) and pitiful laments that we can't have meaningful interactions on sidewalks.
It's always easy to tear down, harder to down. There were plenty of naysayers for The Big Dig, the first plane, the digitization revolution. Easy to blame the people in charge for taking too much of the pie. But hey, even writers gotta pay for their rent and smartphones.
informative
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
A really great overview of why car culture is so thoroughly entrenched in the US and how that culture created fertile ground for modern tech companies to reshape our built environment.
i was expecting a silicon valley transportation overview, but instead it was more about technology which i guess makes sense now. nice historical account of the ride of transportation and technology within it!