I have no clue why people drive. I live in Los Angeles, which has one of the shittiest public transport in the United States, which in turn has one of the shittiest public transport in the world. And yet, I can put up with it as long as I don't have to drive. People around me who own a car keep complaining about the downsides. You must pay a 20-30% surcharge on monthly rent for a parking spot or risk vandalism if left outside. Street parking itself would not be available everyday so you must find a temporary spot twice a week when the streets are being cleaned. And every time you go to an event or for dining or even to your own office, you must pay up again by the hour, ranging from $10 to $40, and finding a spot costs several minutes of search on top of the hour or so spent driving to the destination.

And yet, people drive. I couldn't help but wonder if there's something that separates the "two kinds of people in the world: drivers and passengers" according to a Bollywood movie called Baar Baar Dekho. The movie stops at the quote, so I had to do my own research. I came across a psychologist's book called The Culture Code which described how the company Jeep hired him to help sell better to the American audience. His solution was to replace "the square headlights with round ones. Why? Because horses have round eyes, not square ones."

The author notes how Americans associate jeeps with horses and freedom - the freedom to tread anywhere. I would go as far as to generalize this notion to almost all cars. As an outsider who was only recently introduced to American culture, I can't help but notice their obsession with cars. The Steve Jobs biography often mentions his whimsical drives to faraway friends whenever he felt like. Americans value such individualism and reward their adulting children with a vehicle (or let them buy one themselves) - a horse to ride their way into life.

But if horses are so important for the "drivers" out there, what about the rest of us? Why do we settle for a metro transit or hailing a cab sometimes or even walking? I believe the answer lies in the ideology that stands in stark contrast to individualism, i.e. collectivism. Collectivism for me encompass a set of principles which values the group, e.g., family or society, over the individual. These principles are ingrained into several orthodox civilizations residing in the Middle East, India, and China.

These orthodox collectivist societies have several common traits: an extended family (unfortunately always patrilocal), a deference towards elders (as emphasized in Confucianism; see the 1933 novel The Family), and a strong preference for dogmatic salaried professions in STEM versus the liberal arts. These principles reflect in their social systems, such as the Chinese who sacrifice the self (privacy) for the state (party), or in India which was also in-effect socialist until recently. During the pandemic, mask mandates are also much better adhered to in Asia, whereas the inconvenience of masking up for the sake of society is frustratingly absurd to most Americans.

There are also some non-orthodox collectivist societies emerging in Europe and a few liberal cities in the US. Here we see a compromise in their ideological mobility as well. Europe wants a eco-friendly transport solution so bad that Amsterdam has more cycles than people. In the US, companies are fusing American individualism with the virtue signaling of electric vehicles. No wonder Tesla's valuation is off the charts (never mind that all vehicles including trucks, ships, and jets aggregately account for only around 10% of global greenhouse emissions)!

But I digress. Where was I? Oh right, in the passenger seat. I love the passenger seat because I was born and raised in a collectivist society. The last metro leaves at 5? Sure I'll plan my day accordingly. The city changed the bus schedule? Sure I've always adjusted with the decisions made by the head of my family. I must hail a cab and look out for when it arrives? Sounds like my drop-off and pick-up after school everyday.

The same inconveniences that irk my "driver" friends, appear all too familiar to me. Most importantly, I love the feeling of not having to drive - constantly staying alert and making snap decisions about speed and direction. Of course I feel at home with that as well - my parents and the society has always been taking decisions for the "betterment" of my life!

But that seems sad. Are people who drive are more likely to take initiative in life than those who transit? Do "passengers" like me then stand no chance in creating an impact on the world? I disagree. The human tribe is not always led by alphas. Mark Zuckerberg walked his way to creating Facebook, and when years later he finally bought a car off Craigslist, his co-founder Eduardo thought it was "really a piece of crap." The junk of a car once got him late for a breakfast meeting with a VC, who then "offered to buy him an SUV." (Source).

So to conclude, I'm the Uber of ideological mobility. I will walk at my own pace. I will transit when I have to, but when I need independence, I can take control at the click of a button. I will continue to focus on things that matter, like preparing for a meeting, rather than the road, because there's a "driver" to do that for me!