Just the other day I read an article about how the average size and weight of cars have increased significantly in the past 60 years, both in Germany and the US.
I have a screenshot (in german):
I wonder whether there is a common reason, for why both software and cars seem to undergo “bloating” right now.
Maybe, it is because we live in a time where we don’t appreciate making efficient use of resources anymore.
But maybe somebody has other ideas?
So what’s it got to do with this community?
I wonder, whether, if we find an efficient solution to the obesity of cars, maybe that would lead to an efficient solution against software bloat as well?
Bigger cars, at least on the smaller end, is due to safety. You take those two fiat 500s and throw them into a crash, the older one will have a severely fucked up driver, and the newer one probably just a stressed and scared driver, but otherwise fine.
I’d also like to add that, at least in the US, a reason why cars are getting bigger is due to emissions regulations. The regulations are more lax with bigger vehicles like SUVs, so car manufacturers decided to just make cars bigger instead of more fuel efficient. For them, the better safety is likely just a bonus.
Note to self: there are at least four types of bloat:
- bloat in software (unnecessarily complicated software, like microsoft windows)
- bloat in hardware (smartphones being bigger than they should be)
- bloat in cars (too heavy, too much material use)
- bloat in humans (obesity pandemic in the western world)
maybe they have a common cause and/or common structure.
