Sir, are you telling us that instead of dealing with that small problem of pollution (https://www.workinghorsetack.com/catch-it-manure-bag-horse-d...), we created a whole new system for transport that requires you to build infrastructure from the ground up just to use them? I wonder why.
In 1880 NYC’s population was 2 million. Today there are 23 million in the metropolitan area. We probably still wouldn’t have a good way of dealing with 25M+ pounds of poop a day. And at least garbage disposal is relatively orderly; horses just pooped everywhere.
The poop problem is certainly made easier by the fact that the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers poop in toilets, in specially designated rooms, that are directly connected to the sewers. And the poop gets flushed out of the toilet immediately. We also don't generally make humans work without bathroom breaks.
Decomposing poop takes time, and it's pretty awful to be around while it's happening. Also, for something to decompose into the ground, it needs to reach the ground, which it's not going to do if the street is paved.
You think its a small problem? Imagine as many horses as cars in a dense urban environment, each one using those bags. Now how do you get all those bags out without garbage trucks? It isn't as easy a problem as our modern minds might imagine.
Of course, cars as the savior is also an oversimplified narrative, but it was a fun one.
Sure, but the horse era was before efficient solutions to those problems as well. Cf, "night soil" and the processes used to (try) to keep it from stinking up the city.
My SUV pollutes less than a dog, simply because I run it once a week or less. The dog, as a horse, must breathe, eat and poop 24x7. Animals generate CO2 too. And methane.
To be short, saying that Bitcoin has the right of polluting while doing nothing useful in return because there are cars, is wrong.
It isn't at all accurate to say that horses don't pollute. In some respects their pollution is worse.