Comment by moritzwarhier

> it doesn't seem to me that we would be better off without cars altogether, despite all the related issues

Oh my god, no. I also want the benefits of automobiles! They are strictly more capable than, say, trains. That's where I would derail the discussion completely when going into details, but no, I am not against cars as a technology.

Apart from all the ethical and social arguments (logistics, ambulances, the elderly, etc etc). But that's not where I wanted to go.

I was making a leap here simply because of the whole complex around prisoner's, dilemma, the commons, state economy, and so forth.

Since at least ~100yrs ago, I guess cars and streets as the primary mode of transportation have also "won the vote" / are what the majority wants, so it's also an interesting analogy for diminishing returns maybe.

Building out more car infrastructure is certainly not controversial where there is absolutely none but there are commercial or residential buildings.

Anyway, lots of associations are worth considering here IMO. The ultimate limiting capacity here, when disregarding all environmental or health concerns, is simply space and the positive externalities (cities etc) around existing infrastructure.