What if bikes had been invented earlier? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 6 months ago by Nyssa@slrpnk.net to c/urbanism@slrpnk.net

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Why do alt-history people never focus on infrastructure or innovation? What would have happened had bikes been invented centuries before cars instead of around the same time? How different would the built environment and our culture have looked?

Personally, I think centuries of more established bike use would have created an infrastructure that limits how well cars take off. Cities would have entrenched themselves in a cheap, dense manner of transit.

I could be wrong, lots of dense cities were wrecked by the car when it was commercialized. I'd love to hear any thoughts :)

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[-] Nyssa@slrpnk.net 8 points 6 months ago

That's a great point, I didn't consider the tech tree that leads to bikes also makes cars more likely :/

this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2024

54 points (95.0% liked)

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