We are too “smart” for our own good.

Three days ago I heard of another big slump in car sales in Italy: in August 2021, italian dealers sold 27.3% less cars than in August 2020. This may be just one more proof of another argument I read today, that is the evidence that the world has passed ‘peak car’. It can be seen, says that post,

“in a drop in the number of automobiles that factories produce each year, the number of miles the average person drives, and the importance of cars in our lives."

Of course, another big factor in many places is the sheer lack of space where to move cars:

But what is really interesting is how the “peak car” thing, which cannot come soon enough if you ask me, is just a part of a more general “peak complexity”.

One big reason for last month’s fall in car sales in Italy was the end of certain fiscal incentives to buy electric cars. A smaller, but possibly more meaningful one, was norms written so badly that right now, in Italy, there are 57 millions Euros that can only go to… future beneficiaries of those other incentives that have just expired.

Bah. Be afraid of peak complexity. It is what may do us in, well before, or quite more, than climate change or pollution.