Talis
join:2001-06-21
Houston, TX
| reply to icp1
Re: A What...?
said by icp1  :You don't think electricity, clean water, and sewage are essential to life? Don't put words in my mouth. CLEAN water is not what I commented on, but water systems. There is a difference.
But to answer your question, none of these systems is essential to sustaining life. The fact that cities provide these systems is what allows them to grow to the enormous sizes that they do. Once a city has grown to that size, which could only have been possible with these utility systems in place, then of course shutting them down would drastically impact the people living there. I'm not sure what any of that has to do with my point, however. |
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Captain Obvious
| I believe the point is that for most of the US, these services are no longer optional, and thus, a hard requirement.
Yes, strictly speaking you are correct - you can live in the woods with little more than a sharp stick and some animal skins, but the vast majority of Americans couldn't - they would just die if stuck in the woods without.
So, whether you like it or not, gas, electric, coal or fuel oil in parts, water, and sewer are critical services, without which a lot of people would die. That makes them utilities. |
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Talis
join:2001-06-21
Houston, TX
| Obviously I'm not stating my point very well.
The critical, "can't live without them," status of these utilities did not exist at some point in the not so distant past. They were just as novel as broadband is today. Over time they have developed into critical services. Broadband access has as much potential to improve the quality of life, for individuals as well as whole communities, as any other public utility. To think otherwise is just short-sighted. |
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