History and Story of the Walking issue

To better understand how the Westernized, global culture ended up in a situation of needing a car to have access to basic resources, society, we may start with a quick review of the history of
transportation technologies which changed how humans viewed walking as well as human interactions and culture itself.

In 3500 BC the first wheeled-carts were believed to be introduced, resulting in advancements in local agriculture (plows, animal-driven carts), military (the chariot) and the travel of large amounts of goods for trade, the first step towards the complex, interconnected global economy we see today.

At the same time river boats with oars brought the same advancements around the world, as water passages, oceans and other bodies of water could be easily navigated, allowing some cultures to dominate as well as granting others the ability to claim new territories, like remote island tribes.

By 2000 BC the horse had gradually been domesticated and were being introduced around the world. However, not until 770 CE were the animals outfitted with iron horseshoes, facilitating even longer-distance journeys, and more intense military campaigns.

Around 1492 CE Leonardo da Vinci famously began imagining flying machines and contraptions later to be adapted to modern vehicles like the helicopter, para sail and even the airplane.

1662 saw the development of Blaise Pascal's the first -however primitive- public bus transportation system, complete with a fare system, regular routes and trails and a schedule, using animal-drawn carts.

In 1769 Nicolas Joseph Cugnot developed the first functionally self-propelled road vehicle, which was steam powered.

Between 1783 and 1807 the steamboat saw great advancement, used famously on the Mississippi River and eventually becoming a public passenger mode of transportation.

In 1814 the first practical steam-powered locomotive was produced by George Stephenson, facilitating the mass transportation of people across countries and continents with unprecedented speed and efficiency.

By 1862 the automobile engine powered by gasoline finally found a successful design by Jean Lenoir. The conception of the modern automobile has finally commenced.

In 1867 the first motorcycle was introduced.

In 1871 the first cable car was produced.

1885 saw the first Internal Combustion Engine designed by Franz Benz.

In 1889 the first successful dirigible was launched, the "Zeppelin", perfected by Ferdinand von Zeppelin.

By 1903 the Wright Brothers in Kittyhawk, North Carolina perfected their design for the airplane.

In 1908 Henry Ford modified and augmented the factory manufacturing of the automobile, contributing greatly to its almost viral spread around the world.

In 1947 the first supersonic jet was completed, allowing the transportation of large groups of people in airplanes unprecedented distances and in ever-shortening amounts of time.

How did we get here? For more info, check this History of Transportation outline.