Live data from Hacker News

Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

propublica.org

241–250 of 332 posts

Re: Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a CityNerd video (which you may take or leave in general, but I found the anecdote interesting) in which there appeared to be one vehicle in service on the entire system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPjODKUxV5g I assume though that they would adjust the capacity depending on time of day and whether there's an event or something going on, to some degree.

Thanks for sharing this, I had understood prior to this video that the combo of self driving tech + dedicated tunnels might have capacity that rival a light rail system like Seattle has but that's clearly not the case in the current system. I'm curious why more of the autonomous driving tech isn't being used in what I might have thought would be an "easier" place to do it.

> had understood prior to this video that the combo of self driving tech + dedicated tunnels might have capacity that rival a light rail system like Seattle has but that's clearly not the case in the current system

Not to disparage, but how did you come to that conclusion? A train will always be able to fit more people/m^2 than several cars of equivalent length, due to things like ability to stand, not needing to have multiple engines and trunks, etc.

Re: Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

#242

At this point we all know Musk only did this as part of his general "hyperloop" boondoggle to kill California high speed rail. Why do we have to continue to pretend this was anything other than an idiotic PR stunt?

The man is worth $500Bn. If he actually wanted to build a Hyperloop from SF->LA he could have done it already.

Re: Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

#243
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Indeed! I think the Vegas loop has immense potential. There are many ways we can iterate on this concept. Perhaps we can use bigger cars, in a bus like shape to transport more people at once. Or we could remove the batteries to save cost and weight and supply the cars with an external power source. There is immense potential here and I believe this will revolutionise transport.

[flagged]

Re: Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you are just shilling for polluting billionaires. What an acidic thing to fling. I want us to build infrastructure. Nowhere did I say we need do whatever Musk says. I want us to use cost-benefit analysis to judge infrastructure projects rather than the heavy moral framing we get a lot.

>I want us to use cost-benefit analysis to judge infrastructure projects rather than the heavy moral framing we get a lot. By framing a regulation as some ploy? You're just as ridiculous

Regulations can often be bad for progress so a CBA is probably best. Doesn't matter about the framing.

Re: Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

#245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a parody of your comment, which ascribes all environmental regulation to NIMBYs. If you blow a raspberry and someone blows a similar one right back at you, maybe you earned it.

>It's not clear if these violations actually represent a real environmental hazard or are more reflective of NIMBY degrowth sentiment. >it's not clear if you know what environmental regulations are or if you are just shilling for polluting billionaires. This is pretty clearly an escalation beyond what you're describing. e: Because you did already read these lines, I guess I should spell this out: the former says we c…

Let's look at the opening of the two comments which clearly mirror each other in tone and structure.

The tricky thing about environmental regulations is that they are crafted and utilized by NIMBYs to block any infrastructure development. Even if, on balance, the infrastructure is a net positive.

The tricky thing about deregulating the environment is that deregulations are uncrafted and utilized by amoral capitalists who want to make money no matter what, including by poisoning the land and sea and air as much as they want.

Perhaps missing the point like this was not deliberate, but you nevertheless missed it.

latter says that the former person is either [...] or [...] [...] the latter is an ad hominem assuming bad faith

You went from characterizing it as an either/or comment in one sentence, to characterizing it as a bad faith assumption in the next. This is equivalent to: 'he says it's either odd or even...he says it's odd.'

Re: Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

#246
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed! I think the Vegas loop has immense potential. There are many ways we can iterate on this concept. Perhaps we can use bigger cars, in a bus like shape to transport more people at once. Or we could remove the batteries to save cost and weight and supply the cars with an external power source. There is immense potential here and I believe this will revolutionise transport.

so, a subway?

Yes the thing that costs insanely more and only used by 10% of people. Also subsidised by government and is source of crime and disease.

Re: Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

#247
post #2

> “Environmental regulations are, in my view, largely terrible,” he said at an event with the libertarian Cato Institute last year. “You have to get permission in advance, as opposed to, say, paying a penalty if you do something wrong, which I think would be much more effective.” This quote is particularly telling of a billionaire's mindset when the fines are too small to matter.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Many regulations are terrible and serve as a huge hindrance to innovation, and effectively restrict certain things to only the already-massively-rich entrepreneurs. However, (IMHO) there are a lot of regulations that are important and absolutely should be enforced up front. Finding the right balance is kind of impossible, and I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater,…

When I moved to a developing country with very few rules and regulations, sometimes I could feel the libertarianism leaving my body. There is definitely a happy regulatory medium which doesn't involve having to check the shower with a multimeter when moving in.

Re: Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What an acidic thing to fling. if you don't automatically assume bad faith when dealing with hypercapitalist private infrastructure projects, you're going to be taken advantage of. every time. that, or you're on the payroll. there's not a ton of wiggle room here.

You are falling prey to the myth of the cynical genius > A further three studies based on the data of about 200,000 individuals from 30 countries debunked these lay beliefs as illusionary by revealing that cynical (vs. less cynical) individuals generally do worse on cognitive ability and academic competency tasks. Cross-cultural analyses showed that competent individuals held contingent attitudes and endorsed cynicis…

only if it was warranted in a given sociocultural environment

GP explicitly specified such an environment. Musk is the epitome of a hypercapitalist - an outlier in terms of wealth, fame, ambition, and micromanagement.

Re: Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a CityNerd video (which you may take or leave in general, but I found the anecdote interesting) in which there appeared to be one vehicle in service on the entire system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPjODKUxV5g I assume though that they would adjust the capacity depending on time of day and whether there's an event or something going on, to some degree.

Thanks for sharing this, I had understood prior to this video that the combo of self driving tech + dedicated tunnels might have capacity that rival a light rail system like Seattle has but that's clearly not the case in the current system. I'm curious why more of the autonomous driving tech isn't being used in what I might have thought would be an "easier" place to do it.

If they have autonomous driving technology that works for “harder” problems, then why do they not use it for “easier” problems? You answered your own question; it does not work safely for those “harder” problems.

Zoox has permits to operate autonomously on Las Vegas streets. Tesla is unable to get permits to operate autonomously on isolated, one-lane, one-way streets with no pedestrians, cross-traffic, or even vehicles not under their control. That should tell you everything you need to know about how far reality is away from their corporate puffery.

Re: Boring Company cited for almost 800 environmental violations in Las Vegas

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a CityNerd video (which you may take or leave in general, but I found the anecdote interesting) in which there appeared to be one vehicle in service on the entire system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPjODKUxV5g I assume though that they would adjust the capacity depending on time of day and whether there's an event or something going on, to some degree.

Thanks for sharing this, I had understood prior to this video that the combo of self driving tech + dedicated tunnels might have capacity that rival a light rail system like Seattle has but that's clearly not the case in the current system. I'm curious why more of the autonomous driving tech isn't being used in what I might have thought would be an "easier" place to do it.

> I'm curious why more of the autonomous driving tech isn't being used in what I might have thought would be an "easier" place to do it.

There's no real need in a static environment, and much simpler ways to do it. Children's toys can follow a line painted on something; they just need proximity sensors and a basic signalling system (RF or also painted on the road) for where to stop and done.

There's no real need for the car to "see" beyond "am I going to run into something" and they operate at speeds where stopping is very feasible.

They're also a bad rival for light rail because they already have to dig a tunnel and the conveyance operates on a fixed path. They picked a domain that light rail is already incredibly good and efficient at.

Post reply on HN