3. Gets you in the entrepreneurship game. Out of the big tech trap. My first startup did not do well but a ton of us ended up starting companies, entering VC, etc.
> I can go wherever I want whenever I want however I want.
Except of course if you like walking and caring about all the health benefits that come from not needing a 5,000 pound vehicle to do the most basic elements of life like going to a coffee shop, a local diner etc.
> Do I want to drive down to the Safeway one late evening because I just ran out of eggs? Yeah. Do I want to drive down to Costco this Saturday to buy the next month's worth of foodstuffs and supplies
By simply from the brands referenced above, you seem to live in a very templated suburb that has been copied and pasted verbatim across the country. Being around nothing but epitomes of generic large-scale cookie-cutter grocery stores, where each location is indistinguishable to each other, fast food restaurants serving factory-made food, retailers at strip malls lacking any character etc. is the exact opposite of "freedom" to me. It's dystopian and conforming at its very core.
> The answer to the latter is simple: Bigger/heavier cars are safer when crashes happen.
Except unless you are on the receiving end of these monstrosities, or worse yet, you happen to be a pedestrian. This argument that bigger/heavier cars are safer is incorrect even at the most fundamental level for drivers, because taken to its logical conclusion, if everyone drove bigger/heavier cars for safety as a reason, the net effect would lead to everyone being worse off and unsafe, as two large cars colliding are far more dangerous to both parties than otherwise.
I'm actually on the side of a small mountain, can't see my neighbours through the thick forest around me. It's anything but a templated suburb here.
The town is just a few minutes' drive away, though, with most of the common modern amenities one could want. If I want to go shopping at Costco that's a 30 minute drive away on the freeway to the neighbouring city.
Incidentally, the "cookie cutter" stores are all quite distinguishable. The people around here are all wonderful, so they give each store their own little identity and flair.
2. Payoffs if a startup does well.
3. Gets you in the entrepreneurship game. Out of the big tech trap. My first startup did not do well but a ton of us ended up starting companies, entering VC, etc.