. . . corporations are ispo facto governments. When land use is centered around the automobile, it's no longer a "choice" to own a vehicle. Products that, in theory, might best serve as luxuries become necessities (computers, phones). The shape of society, for better and for worse, is determined by its stuff. Which is better, I suppose, that it being determined by its weapons, if worse than being determined by its art (the other two artifacts through which most of human history is explored).