141–146 of 146 posts
I'm absolutely fascinated by the difference in responses I see on HN versus talking to my friends (liberal arts). They were concerned with the future implications for cultural integrity as well as how it would effect labor forces and capitalism as a whole. Any thoughts? I, for one, think this technology is awesome and think it could follow the progression that the train system went through in the US (transcontinental…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I gather that the intent is to tether the tunnel. I've seen how cables are run in tectonic-active areas: they are provided a certain elasticity and I imagine it would be similar. Earthquakes don't move much more than a few meters at a time (for a very very large event). How would this be any different than the Chunnel? My own comment on this article: "getting to, from and through airports is very time consuming" I do…
The Chunnel doesn't cross a fault line.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of the $80M/mile - $70M is to buy the land and pay off objectors, $9M is security and fencing for the work site and $1M is to build the actual track. The nice thing about a transatlantic tunnel is that crustecaeans can be bought off cheaply
> The nice thing about a transatlantic tunnel is that crustecaeans can be bought off cheaply The various environmental organizations aren't going to be bought off cheaply.
If you get the sierra club complaining publicly about the tunnel, you instantly have about half of the politicians in the country in favor of it.
I'm absolutely fascinated by the difference in responses I see on HN versus talking to my friends (liberal arts). They were concerned with the future implications for cultural integrity as well as how it would effect labor forces and capitalism as a whole. Any thoughts? I, for one, think this technology is awesome and think it could follow the progression that the train system went through in the US (transcontinental…
What is "cultural integrity"?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A vacuum only weighs 1.28 grams less per litre than air. Since there are 1000 litres in a cubic meter, a 3x3x3 meter cube (approximation of a cross section of a unit of the tube) would contain 27000 litres whose air would weigh 76 lbs. In other words you're talking about sinking 3 meters of tube that would weigh 76 fewer pounds than if there were air. This is probably a small effect compared to the weight of the stro…
It's not about vacuum being weightless. It's about vacuum being an active stress factor for the entire construction. It will _want_ to collapse. It's not sitting there doing nothing.
