The Hyperloop’s Only Destination Is a Capitalist Hellscape
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The Hyperloop’s Only Destination Is a Capitalist Hellscape
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Re: The Hyperloop’s Only Destination Is a Capitalist Hellscape
#2The fact that the hyperloop is not a train is by far its most important feature.
We have reasonable cost estimates for trains, with a new unproven technology, you can make any cost estimates you want.
But its all a shell game, the hyperloop has every constraint a train does (and more!), and will inevitably, at the very least be exactly as expensive.
This is an old game, I'm sure everyone remembers The Simpson's monorail episode.
Re: The Hyperloop’s Only Destination Is a Capitalist Hellscape
#3I disagree. I think there is a profoundly bright future to be had with hyperloops, powered by a mix of solar and fusion energy.
That being said, I do believe that there are a lot of challenges to resolve along the way.
* how do we halt the release of methane from the arctic and prevent the death of the North Atlantic Current (NAC)?
* how do we make online education even better and as close to free of cost as possible?
* how do we restore trust in government and media?
* how do we free people from crushing debt, whether it be from student loans or medicine?
* how do we change the physical layout of communities so they are no longer structured around the automobile, but instead are built for remote work and raising children at home?
* how do we rapidly grow the housing stock, so that everyone has a place to live?
Solving these problems (and the many I have neglected to mention) is a difficult challenge, to be sure. I am certain of one thing though: clean technology and honestly earned wealth are our friends here, not our enemies.
A lot of great jobs will be made constructing the infrastructure required to make all this stuff happen.
Re: The Hyperloop’s Only Destination Is a Capitalist Hellscape
#4Is public money going toward this? If not, why do you care how a private individual uses their money?
Re: The Hyperloop’s Only Destination Is a Capitalist Hellscape
#5Many years ago, when Hyperloop's design was first announced, tlb pointed out that steel expands during summer, and that the expansion from SF to LA was roughly 400m (if I remember correctly) over a so-and-so temperature difference during summer. Where does the steel go?
I'm not sure there's been a satisfactory answer to that question. Expansion joints are very hard when you need to maintain a vacuum.
Re: The Hyperloop’s Only Destination Is a Capitalist Hellscape
#6I disagree. I think there is a profoundly bright future to be had with hyperloops, powered by a mix of solar and fusion energy. That being said, I do believe that there are a lot of challenges to resolve along the way. * how do we halt the release of methane from the arctic and prevent the death of the North Atlantic Current (NAC)? * how do we make online education even better and as close to free of cost as possible…
How does the hyperloop solve any of these problems in a better way than an already proven technology, trains.
Re: The Hyperloop’s Only Destination Is a Capitalist Hellscape
#7I disagree. I think there is a profoundly bright future to be had with hyperloops, powered by a mix of solar and fusion energy. That being said, I do believe that there are a lot of challenges to resolve along the way. * how do we halt the release of methane from the arctic and prevent the death of the North Atlantic Current (NAC)? * how do we make online education even better and as close to free of cost as possible…
The article's author agrees with you that there may be a bright future for Hyperloop replacing air travel.
The author believes that the (technical AND political) challenges to resolve along the way are so substantial, that you're not going to see them solved until 2200.
The author then points out that all the firms working on building one seem to operate more like Theranos, or Bernie Madoff's investment firm, and less like Tesla or SpaceX.
Re: The Hyperloop’s Only Destination Is a Capitalist Hellscape
#8> The company celebrated the achievement by releasing a modest video comparing it to, among other things, the moment the Wright Brothers flew the first planes.
Just so everyone knows, the Wright Brothers became well-known in the aviation community based on their work developing and flying gliders and inventing the 3-axis control system. Once they actually started flying powered airplanes, they became secretive and everyone stopped believing them, considering them to be complete frauds.
A few people saw them fly in Kitty Hawk. A few dozen people saw them fly in Ohio with new and refined designs, etc. But still they were ignored.
It was only a few years later, in France, that they blew everyone's mind with a completely new design and started flying around Paris.
They got the credit for flying in Kitty Hawk retroactively. You don't want your product to be compared to the Wright Brothers and the first flight!
Re: The Hyperloop’s Only Destination Is a Capitalist Hellscape
#9Is public money going toward this? If not, why do you care how a private individual uses their money?
Waste is waste.
Re: The Hyperloop’s Only Destination Is a Capitalist Hellscape
#10Is public money going toward this? If not, why do you care how a private individual uses their money?
> Is public money going toward this?
Pretty much all the private investment in hyperloops is to get to the point of selling it for public infrastructure projects (it was originally proposed as an alternative specifically to California High Speed Rail), so, while the answer is mostly “no” in the strict present sense of “is”, it's also “yes” in the sense of the intended goal of the projects.