Will large cities become obsolete?

[crazy canuck]

I dont think that is true.  If you used a cab to travel everywhere it would likely be less expensive then the cost of owning, parking, insuring, operating and maintaining a vehicle (here it would be by a significant margin).  People pay the premium to own a vehicle for the prestige value and the convenience factor - waiting for a taxi can be a real pain in the ass.

In a suburban area, sure, but once you get out into the rural areas, cabs get INSANELY expensive, if they're even equipped to run at all.  I suspect PDH or Beeb would have a better idea what I'm talking about, having lived in or near the true boonies where transportation becomes a real, serious issue.

That is why PDH has a bike.  And although I would agree with your characterization of Edmonton I am not sure most Edmontonians would.

[garbon]

I dont think that is true.  If you used a cab to travel everywhere it would likely be less expensive then the cost of owning, parking, insuring, operating and maintaining a vehicle (here it would be by a significant margin).  People pay the premium to own a vehicle for the prestige value and the convenience factor - waiting for a taxi can be a real pain in the ass.

In a suburban area, sure, but once you get out into the rural areas, cabs get INSANELY expensive, if they're even equipped to run at all.  I suspect PDH or Beeb would have a better idea what I'm talking about, having lived in or near the true boonies where transportation becomes a real, serious issue.

That is why PDH has a bike.  And although I would agree with your characterization of Edmonton I am not sure most Edmontonians would.

Well he did use the past tense.

[Siege]

Teleportation will make cities obsolete.

[Sheilbh]

Surely it'd make them more popular?

If we had teleportation I'd be living in Rio right now.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Teleportation will make cities obsolete.

I don't think so, more likely it will make smaller places obsolete. With teleportation people would gather in the cool places of the world to party, as Sheilbh hints Rio would be overwhelmed. For myself...............I think I might go for a pub crawl in Tel Aviv for my first teleportation jaunt, see what the Israel that rarely hits the news is like.

[Eddie Teach]

I'd think people would be less inclined to live in the city centers if they could easily get there from anywhere.

[Barrister]

I dont think that is true.  If you used a cab to travel everywhere it would likely be less expensive then the cost of owning, parking, insuring, operating and maintaining a vehicle (here it would be by a significant margin).  People pay the premium to own a vehicle for the prestige value and the convenience factor - waiting for a taxi can be a real pain in the ass.

In a suburban area, sure, but once you get out into the rural areas, cabs get INSANELY expensive, if they're even equipped to run at all.  I suspect PDH or Beeb would have a better idea what I'm talking about, having lived in or near the true boonies where transportation becomes a real, serious issue.

In the Yukon, there is bus service (Greyhound) along the Alaska highway.  But once you get off the highway, there is nothing.  If you want to get from, say, Faro to Whitehorse you have to bum a ride or rent a car.

This was actually a major issue for the courthouse.  The courthouse is responsible for bringing Crown witnesses in from their residence to court.  So if we had a witness in an outlying community we would always try and see if they had friends or family who could drive them, and then pay their mileage.  But once in a whiile, when there was no other option, they would rent a cab from Whitehorse, have them drive the 5 hours to pick them up, then drive 5 hours back to bring them to court (and do the same the next day to bring them back).  The cost of course was in thousands of dollars.

[crazy canuck]

I'd think people would be less inclined to live in the city centers if they could easily get there from anywhere.

Yeah, if people could teleport anyway they want then property values in the cities would plummet as people left to buy larger houses on larger pieces of land.  I would buy a lake and its surrounding foreshore and teleportcommute from there.

[The Brain]

Teleport malfunctions would produce a lot of abominations.

[crazy canuck]

Teleport malfunctions would produce a lot of abominations.

Your chances of teleport abomination is 10x less than a serious car accident - when we had cars

[Neil]

You wouldn't be able to buy land because you wouldn't have a livelihood.  A society advanced enough to create a teleportation machine would have left the evils of lawyerdom behind years ago.

[crazy canuck]

You wouldn't be able to buy land because you wouldn't have a livelihood.  A society advanced enough to create a teleportation machine would have left the evils of lawyerdom behind years ago.

Excellent.  In a world where everyone says exactly what they are going to do and does exactly what they say they are going to do; a world in which there is not commercial, personal or international disagreements; a world in which all legislation is unnecessary (and so to is the need to interpret the legislation) I am sure I could find something else to do - like travel around this Star Trek universe you invisage and seek out new life and new civilizations.  But until that day comes I think my ability to purchase that lake is secure.

[Razgovory]

Teleportation will make cities obsolete.

Not Kosher.

[Eddie Teach]

Siege's fish and chicken parts will be mixed on the way to the kosher butcher.

[Neil]

You wouldn't be able to buy land because you wouldn't have a livelihood.  A society advanced enough to create a teleportation machine would have left the evils of lawyerdom behind years ago.

Excellent.  In a world where everyone says exactly what they are going to do and does exactly what they say they are going to do; a world in which there is not commercial, personal or international disagreements; a world in which all legislation is unnecessary (and so to is the need to interpret the legislation) I am sure I could find something else to do - like travel around this Star Trek universe you invisage and seek out new life and new civilizations.  But until that day comes I think my ability to purchase that lake is secure.

That's what judges are for.  Lawyers are only there to lie.