In class today, we talked quite a bit about the effects of computational media on society. I enjoyed the conversation we had about the push for driverless cars which stood as a stand-in for technological progress as a whole.
It would seem that driverless cars as nothing but beneficial, they would save lives, free us from wasted time, and so on. The longer term effects often go unexamined and might not be all that we hope for though. These would likely include longer commutes since we aren’t stuck doing the driving we may choose to live further away. As people are able to move further from work, cities, this would also cause more widespread environmental damage. The more time people spend in cars, they will be more isolated, exercise less, and create more pollution.
Will self driving cars partially solve one problem and end up causing more?