#363 / Happy To Share

Here's the pull quote from an article in a special magazine supplement of The Wall Street Journal. The supplement was named "The Future of Everything," and it came in the form of a glossy insert into the more prosaic newsprint of my everyday paper. My regular newspaper, and the supplement, appeared on my front porch on the morning of December 11th:

THE UTILIZATION RATE OF AUTOMOBILES IN THE U.S. IS 5%. THE REST OF THE TIME, THEY JUST SIT THERE LIKE CONDOS AT THE BEACH. 

If you believe this article, titled "Kiss Your Car Goodbye," things are going change substantially, and pretty quickly:

Twenty-five years from now, the only people still owning cars will be hobbyists, hot-roddders and flat-earth dissenters. Everyone else will be happy to share.

I have a bit of a problem with "predictions," statements telling us what "will" be the case in the future. In the world we create, nothing is inevitable, and everything is possible.

But let me inject some "ought" into the discussion.

We ought to be willing to share. And for lots of reasons, we'd better learn how.

This article puts it to us: Are we ready to share?

Some bad things are going to happen if we aren't (global warming). Some good things are going to happen if we are (an end to traffic congestion).

Happy New Year! Let's get ready to share!

Image Credit:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/could-self-driving-cars-spell-the-end-of-ownership-1448986572