A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology

Transportation System Benefits, Harms and Hazards

At its most basic level, the transportation system’s primary benefit is the reduction in cost of moving people and material between two locations. Absent a transportation system, people and material would be impossible or very difficult to move from place to place. Indeed, in some African countries, “head transport,” generally by women, is a common form of moving water, food and other materials. Even head transport requires footpaths, although these may not be the product of systematic design and deliberate improvement and maintenance, but may have emerged through routine use over time.

As one reduces transportation costs, opportunities for economic and social exchange expand. Expanded exchange often allows specialization of production. The common textbook example is two nearby villages that require pottery (to cook and store food) and corn (to consume) for their sustenance. Without transportation, and hence without exchange, each village must produce enough pottery and corn to sustain itself. If transportation allows exchange, and if economies of scale are sufficient to offset transportation costs, then one village may evolve to specialize in production of pottery, the other corn, with the two villages trading with each other to achieve sustenance. Overall resources devoted to production and transportation of corn and pottery will decline under such conditions, and surplus income will allow both villages to be better off.

As illustrated ...