I decried the rental electric scooters that appeared in many cities in the late 2010s. Bird and its brother scooter rental start-up Spin filed for bankruptcy protection this week, and some other competitors are bankrupt or struggling. I bring them up to consider what a deep hatred of rental scooters says about our immediate decisions about new technology. This goes for electric scooters, driverless cars, TikTok, computers for our faces, and artificial intelligence that is helping people write emails or create vacation snapshots out of thin air. However, I admit that I am still afraid to ride an electric scooter myself.

Source: Washington Post December 23, 2023 01:10 UTC