Re: What should I say to a *nix community?

Lukas Beeler wrote:

Isn't this the reason why your car industry is dieing? Sticking to
running old 6l engines with a carburetor, instead of going with new,
high pressure, fuel injection, turbocharged for maximum engine
efficiency?

1. No matter how efficient an automobile engine is made, it will always be stuck with the inefficiency of rubber tires on pavement. Passenger trains, from streetcar to transcontinental, will always require the fewest BTUs per passenger-mile, because the lowest-technology, least-efficient kind of train, i.e., completely conventional steel wheels on steel rails, is still much more energy-efficient than rubber tires on pavement. And whenever a more efficient kind of prime mover is developed, it usually finds its way onto the rails at least as fast as it finds its way on the highways. For example, diesel locomotives have almost universally had electric drivetrains since my parents were in diapers, and diesel-battery hybrid locomotives have been around at least as long as gasoline-battery hybrid automobiles.

2. My old carbureted, normally-aspirated, Datsun 510, which would be 30 years old this year, ran as cleanly and efficiently as my Camry does. It wasn't as roomy, but . . .

3. My point was that change to the "latest, greatest" is not always progress, and can sometimes be a step backwards. And sometimes something that looks like a step backwards can be the real progress.