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Comment by trhway | Hacker News Reader

like some countries/societies jumped straight into cell/smartphones by-passing the landline stage, i think such areas like Amazon should and would go straight the way of "flying car" (all those multi-copters popping around e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNxoHqZGYa0 - just add ICE/hybrid generator for range and tilt-able ducts for safety). Much less environmental damage, cheaper than whole road infrastructure and much faster to cover those distances.

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Skipping the landline stage means skipping the need to stabilize the situation on the ground, particularly involving crime. There is a lot to be said for the side-effects of landlines, other utilities, a postal service, roads, and so on. Widely exposed public assets need protection, and so they get it, and thus the place is becalmed.

Cell towers are tiny little spots that can be fortified without much concern for the surrounding situation. They don't provide an incentive to care about any troubles in the area.

Do you have a source for that showing causation? Also I don't recall the Amazon area or any of the remote parts of Brazil I've been to having a problem with stability or crime. The crime is in the cities. Where landlines run underground anyway and don't need to be secured.

They have landlines and postal service in Baltimore, yet the murder rate is horrific.

The river itself is the landline.

Anyone who lives along the Amazon uses boat to get around it. It's not that the river is stopping travel. It's just that they don't use cars to cross it.

cesnas are usually a prefered method of transport and there a lot of places who own an airstrip. Much like alaska, where is very common to have an hidro or bush plane.

Why fly when boats can get you where you need to go?

> Much less environmental damage

How is that possible?

I assume the OP meant less environment damage from building roads, not that flying cars would be produce less CO2 than land cars.

Or use tunnel with rockets... :)

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