At the risk of lowering the intellectual quality of this debate by
peering into my crystal ball...
I think that in the future, a lot of 'business' flights will be replaced
by the use of technologies such as videoconferencing - they are so much
quicker and cheaper than flying, and avoid accommodation costs. There
will always be cases where the premium associated with a face-to-face
meeting will be justified, but the mass-market will go online.
People who want to visit distant countries will need to have longer
vacations (hooray) - think of the Australian model where you get 6
months leave after working for several years. The days of dashing to New
York for the weekend must end... aim for a higher quality of experience
and the time to really get to know the culture you are visiting.
If you want to travel across the Atlantic, a submarine is a better
choice than a ship - think of it as a slow underwater plane. They are
not affected by storms at the surface and can have extremely efficient
hydrodynamics. They wouldn't need to dive very deep, so would be cheaper
to build than military subs. The emphasis would have to be on the luxury
of the trip (like a cruise liner or old-style Zeppelin) to make the
5-day crossing an appealing prospect.
Perhaps the attitude we ought to be aiming to change is that 'faster is
better' - I suspect that most people would welcome the opportunity to
slow down and take life at a more relaxed pace. Who really benefits from
the hectic pace of modern life? Telling people that they need to get
poorer to save the planet is very unlikely to work, but a better quality
of life might just be the key.
Adam Warren
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