I don't want to Think!

Well it's finally happened, American's are consuming less gasoline. Articles at SFGate.com and even at the WSJ.com (not free for this one) talk about Americans finally reducing their gasoline consumption. And why are Americans finally becoming conscious of how much gasoline they use? Well the obvious answer is it costs more. And with that realization I realized why cars have become so successful, it's because you don't have to think. All you have to do is hop in your car and go wherever you want to go, you don't have to plan ahead. You don't have to coordinate, you just have to go. You might say that well gas has always cost money. Well that's true, but it's been literally cheaper than water (and still is). A bottle of nice bottle water is $2 and that's maybe just a quart, four of those equal a gallon. So gas has been so cheap you didn't have to think about it. Well now you do. Gas has become so expensive that now you have to make choices about how you spend your money, and making choices is thinking. Ouch!

Then I started thinking about when I love mass transit, and I realized when it's I don't have to think. In NYC or Boston, all I had to do was walk to the subway and hop in. Did I have to worry about the schedule, no it came regularly. Did I have to worry about driving to mass transit, no stops were all over the place. Did I have to worry about it I was running late, no there'd be another one soon. All those things are what people get when they drive, no wonder why people love their cars.

Well I'm tired of thinking, I want mass transit where I don't have to think! And so does everyone else.