It’s pretty clear that the human is a mobile organism. If you were to sit down and write a history of the human on Earth only in terms of travel it would encompass practically all aspects of human history.
We know from DNA studies (of course augmented with language analysis and artifacts) that nobody lives where their original ancestors lived. In fact when 2000 rolled around almost everyone on the planet (humanity) could point to multiple ancestral origins over the last 150,000 years. Let’s not argue that point. I don’t have time for it.
What I’m going to talk about is how all this probably occurred. I spelled occurred right the first time and WORD didn’t have to auto correct it. I’ve come a long way.
Way, way back in olden times about the only kinds of folks around were nomads. They had to be simply because being human they managed to mess up the motel room and the manager said they had to leave.
They used simple methods to carry their stuff. “Woman! Take this! Carry it!” But women began insisting that guys share the load.
Resourceful guys could always find a way to avoid any real work. When women got all stubborn and refused to carry stuff guys were forced to invent new ways to do it. It was not that hard – they asked a woman how and then pretended they invented it themselves. Thus the birth of the cart.
The next crucial step toward true independence had to do with the argument about who should pull the cart. The motel manager said “Git!” but that was hard to do when nobody would pull the cart. That led to the invention of powered transportation.
The new source of power was the animal. The horse, oxen, cat, mule, camel, sled dog, reindeer, bear, dino, and hamster were all enlisted to haul those ancient carts. A few of these experiments ended badly but we kept on trying.
The point is everyone wanted to move to a new place. Humans could load up the cart and go until they found another motel that still had a room. We call this the “No Vacancy Epoch” in human history. It lasted for thousands of years.
During this period humans also invented the wind powered vehicle that usually traveled on water. Adding a sail to a cart was rarely successful. Boats made it possible to visit new places. Each “new” place where a boatload of humans arrived was claimed in the name of their king. It didn’t seem to matter that there were already people living there. We managed to invent wars.
Wars are another way of overcoming the “No Vacancy” issue. At least sometimes. Depended entirely on the motel manager and how many nasty people the invaders had to deal with. Next time you read a history book you’ll see how this works out. It’s all about who came to visit and who was already there and how they settled the issue.
During the recent 200 or so years we have been replacing animals as vehicle power with various kinds of motors. They all have one thing in common – horsepower. That’s because we still revere the horse as our favorite cart puller. The Amish are among the last holdouts using actual horses. Amish women are particularly happy there are horses.
Another development during this changeover was that with all this horsepower (not involving actual horses) we could move large numbers of people at the same time. We call these ships, busses, trains, planes, and SUVs.
Humans have one other trait that is probably important. We like to organize everything. Airplanes are required to behave according to rules. You can’t pilot one unless the FAA says you can. It has to land and take off in certain places, usually called airports. Some can use water but they still have lots of rules. And before you ride on an airplane you have to show somebody your shoes.
Vehicles that stay on the ground are close behind, although nobody is interested in your shoes. Trains run on tracks, busses run on roads, and ships navigate the waterways. All these things require organization and maintenance.
Way back in the days when women pulled carts by hand there were no taxpayer built roads. A road was just a pathway where other women had pulled other carts and you just happened to be going the same way.
Now that’s all changed. In order for me to drive on a nice smooth string of potholes in palatial Newcastle I need to pay taxes. People who like to organize everything use that money to build roads for me. Well, some of it anyway. Most of it goes to fancy smancy signs saying “Welcome to Newcastle.”
Now on the eve of 2010 the world is organized around non-animal powered transportation. We can go anywhere our passports allow as long as we can stand being aboard an airplane that long. Especially if you left your shoes with the TSA.
That brings us to the next stage of the transportation evolution. Right now most of us have a personal vehicle to get us around. There are plenty of busses and trains but actually not enough. Besides, if you need to haul “stuff” it’s really hard to drag it onto a city bus. Ever try to get 15 of those plastic bags full of groceries on a bus? Then you have to carry it all from the bus stop 20 blocks to your house.
The new thing in transportation will be the local shuttle. The concept is that bus and rail transit will run fast from hub to hub. An example of a hub will be the multibillion dollar Lake Boren Transit Center to be built in Newcastle in some unknown future century.
People who need to go places will have small shuttles come right to their house and take them to the hub. Once they get to the hub near their destination another shuttle will deliver them that last mile of so. They’ll have to share the shuttles and that means they may take indirect routes. But the overall cost per household will be less than owning a car. I imagine there will be some provisions for carrying their stuff. Right now those cramped bus seats don’t have any extra room but it seems like transportation organizers will finally begin to realize people have stuff.
For example, maybe everyone will have a little hand cart for their stuff and the bus will have extra room at each seat for the little (standard sized) carts. Then as we buy groceries or whatever we cram it all into our little carts and take the local shuttle to the transportation hub. Then we get on the bus/train back toward home. And finally the shuttle takes us to our house.
The only problem is where do we get the women to drag those little carts on and off the busses?
Al
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