15 October

A car is an institution. I think all successful technologies are institutions. For a car: - the car company itself is an institution - the parts and spares industries are institutions - road building and maintenance are institutions - road safety and policing are institutions - the car is made from parts and technologies and patents from many countries, so is a multi-national institution - the materials in the car can be up to millions of years old, so the car is a blend of times crossing multiple generations. And so on. I think it also shows how technologies are what actually hold society together, unpack any technology and you'll find thousands of people whose lives are dependent on it, as well as national and international agreements. Take all that away and you have no car.