Why did it take so long for someone to come up with the idea of putting wheels on the bottom of suitcases? It’s a great idea, right? Yes and no. If you are an elderly person, or a small child, I can see how lubricating the wheels of long-haul travel is a good idea. But there are some unforseen consequences.
Wheeled suitcases are emblematic of an age in which a dominant attitude is “I can do anything I want.”
In the days before wheeled luggage, people had to think carefully about what they packed. But nowadays we can wildly over-pack and get away with it. Technology has come to the rescue and we can now break free from the physical limits imposed by nature. Our suitcases can now be as super-sized as our over-stuffed homes and our over-weight bodies. Quite why people need so much ‘stuff’ is beyond me, but at least we’re all free to choose.
Another example of this “I can have anything I want” attitude is something that’s going on in parts of London. For example, I know of a house that’s been bought by a developer who has decided to build a double height extension on the back of the house. Fair enough. But that’s not enough.
The Victorian terraced house is, it seems, still too small, so he is using the latest underground innovation to excavate a double depth basement to squeeze in a few more rooms, possibly even a small subterranean swimming pool. Once upon a time, if you wanted a big house you bought a big house. Now, if you have the money, you can make a small house big by stuffing it full of rooms that shouldn’t be there.
I’m all for new ideas. But surely new ideas should focus on real human needs that significantly benefit the largest number of people on the planet- or else benefits the planet as a whole?
I fully agree with you that “new ideas should focus on real human needs that significantly benefit the largest number of people on the planet- or else benefits the planet as a whole”, but isn’t that what the developer is doing in one way at least. While it may well be true that he models the desire for a ‘super-sized’ house to be an ‘over-stuffed’ home for an ‘over-weight’ body, he is using less acreage for his ‘super-sized’ house than a regular ‘large’ house would require. And this is a real benefit to the planet as a whole.
🙂
G
It hasn’t been that long since the days of steamer trunks that could be carried by porters and your valet. The details of travel are chasing multiple moving targets, including cultural norms (you don’t need to carry as many outfits if you aren’t changing them as often), travel technology (steamship with stateroom vs. airplane with overhead compartment), and the price of labor (porters vs. renting a cart at the airport). Our cultural ideas are struggling to catch up with this— we’re still all struggling against the clean-your-plate memes from the days of the Great Depression, expectations of everyone being able to live in single-family homes from Levittown, all of it in a world where it’s more efficient to live in densely packed cities instead of sprawling exurbs.
hah!
I completely agree with your last sentence, and if you ever figure out how to make this basic logic stick (instead of constantly brushed off as ‘idealism’), please share!