The Unlucky #13

For applied CCS let's try to show an example and highlight the multiple misunderstandings about philosophy.

"Applied" in this case means taking something not not normally applied (not normally about real-world specifics) and making them more so. It means applying philosophy to surface issues. In our department, for ex, many people talked about actual "outreach" programs (students out in the world or on field trips) applying ethics to bio or corporate ethics. A group of students participating in a debate about bio ethics in New York City, for example.

Without further ado, here's our question: What tf is wrong with Texas?

The answer: Psychology.

In traditional Reidian fashion let's do science first. Here's the science:

Hint: Afterwards I'm going to tell you that what is wrong with Texas psychologically is the uncritical concept of "open spaces."

The Science:

1. The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) contains nine Texas counties: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller. 124 incorporated cities and 33 census designated places are located within these counties.

2. The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land MSA covers 9,444 square miles, an area larger than five other U.S. states: New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island.

3. Harris County covers 1,778 square miles. That’s enough space to fit the cities of Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York City and Seattle with room to spare.

4. At 665 square miles, the City of Houston is larger than the cities of Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix and San Diego.

5. If Houston were a country, it would rank as the 26th largest economy in the world

6. Metro Houston has the third-largest number of Fortune 1000 companies in the nation.

7. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land MSA’s GDP at $490.1 billion in 2017, making it the seventh-largest U.S. metro economy.

8. If Houston were a state, its GDP would rank 15th, behind Michigan ($508.9 billion) and ahead of Maryland ($399.5 billion).

9. If the MSA were an independent nation, it would rank as the world’s 26th largest economy, behind Belgium ($495.8 billion) and ahead of Thailand ($455.3 billion) and Iran ($430.7 billion), according to the International Monetary Fund.

10. Ninety nations have consular representation in the city, ranking Houston’s consular corps the third largest in the nation.

11. Among the nation’s ports, the Port of Houston ranks second in total tonnage (domestic and foreign).

12. With the addition of international air service at Hobby Airport in 2015, Houston became the only city in Texas with two airports offering international service and one of only eight such cities nationwide.

13. In 2018, the Houston Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service recorded closings on 98,348 properties (includes single-family homes, townhomes, condos, high rises, etc.), an average of one every 5.3 minutes.

(This is stolen directly from the KPRC website from an article in May of 2020)

More science. Cities do not function spread out. In fact, the idea of a city is one in which social, cultural and economic entities are integrated to allow for more efficient living. This has never been more relevant than it is today. I don't need to tell you any of this.

So, moving on.

The Philosophy:

Why is it that people when they are restricted by rote thinking and, as such, rely on copying info and repeating slogans, make huge mistakes? Or maybe I should ask: Why don't we overthrow the tyranny of rote? Charles Sanders Peirce suggested that the reason is that people are uncomfortable with doubt. Doubting simply requires too much work. But what about politicians? Isn't this there job? To make things better?

In the (free?) state of Texas there is a nostalgic belief in the value of open spaces. Bigger is better. But so is "more open." The night sky, the fields, the trees, the open roads …. The truth is however that this kind of thinking leads to urban sprawl. As you can see from the science, something has gone wrong. What happens when you spread urbanity out so wide that one cannot traverse it in the normal course of a work-day? I'll tell you. Pollution, roadway snafu, and reliance on a particularly nasty little metal box - the automobile. The problem is not really with urban sprawl, it is with cars (and rote thinking). The urban sprawl makes us rely too heavily on this little dangerous and inefficient rolling coffin.

Where is the philosophy?

What if I tell you that humans have gotten too attached to their aesthetics. Part of this is their childhood memories of things like open roads and starry skies. The problem then on a deeper level is their rote learning. They learn through family, through memory, through nostalgia and through a kind of cultural aesthetic that withstands practical reason. All of that "living in the country" bullshit is great until the planet goes over one billion people. Then you fucked up. Now the reality is that you need efficient, compact places where humans can live their lives and be productive and not, by the way, destroy the planet with their being alive.

Enter the city. Cities in Japan and Europe are designed to minimize the automobile. When I was in Amsterdam I saw the parking lots converted to bicycle lots. New York City is maybe a little worse because it is still the US and people still want to keep cars, especially when they are rich (but its only about 10 percent). Now we keep sinking down until we get to Texas - a place rich in nostalgia and state patriotism. Why is Houston so spread out? Why did Austin forget to build overpasses? Why did Dallas have to segregate so rapidly to protect the rich people from crime? Kundera once wrote something about how nothing is more dangerous than a metaphor. And I don't think it's that far from what's happening here. Without logic and reason, the mind indulges this state, this state of decadence (Nietzsche) and dream-like and child-like nostalgia. This dream of open spaces, which might work in another place and another time, has become the municipal pseudo-philosophy.

Ask yourself perhaps why neighborhoods in St. Louis are so pretty (between I70 and I40 and west of Grand) and why they are so ugly in Houston and North Austin. Because the answer might be that the Texas dreams and nostalgia were not merely wrong, they were simply the only option. When the urban sprawl becomes the emphasis and the tough choices are not made (over-passes?) the only possibility is a profit-margin business plan as it is independent of utility. The little crap mass-production home is the only option on the 5k square foot lot in the ever-growing, ever-destroying Houston suburban landscape (they actually clear all trees, 100 ft loblollies or not, and replant later if they have to).

But what causes this?

The answer: rote thinking. On the most fundamental level the inability to teach process thinking in early education and beyond is the cause of the confusion. Somewhere between Mill and Nietzsche, between utility and real dream-like creativity, is a balance that has seeped into necessity in other countries and maybe Northern cities in the US. Texas, as it is "independent," refuses to acknowledge this.

Hope that helps.