Putting on the Brakes: Mankind Nears the End of the Age of Speed
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Re: Putting on the Brakes: Mankind Nears the End of the Age of Speed
#2I don't think the space shuttle can be really deemed reusable.
Re: Putting on the Brakes: Mankind Nears the End of the Age of Speed
#3Totally incorrect synopsis, humanity IS on the quest for speed.
What killed the Concorde was not that humanity was no longer looking for faster ways to communicate, it's that most of their customers died during 911. For the rest of us Twitter / Email, Skype fill the role of quick highly personal information dissemination.
Companies like SpaceX and Virgin who dare to explore the boundaries of human travel will take humanity to ever greater heights. They are picking up the torch where the government left it in 1969. One of those two companies will eventually partner with FedEx to offer New York to Sydney 'yesterday afternoon' service. The companies that can capitalize on that kind of mobility and speed will rocket infront of their competitors.
Re: Putting on the Brakes: Mankind Nears the End of the Age of Speed
#4"In the 19th, with trains, they reached 60 mph. In the 20th, with jet aircraft, we could travel at 600 mph. Can we expect 6,000 mph in the 21st?"
The 21st century still has 90 years left in it. We have no idea what technologies will emerge in that time. If a technological Singularity occurs, well...
Re: Putting on the Brakes: Mankind Nears the End of the Age of Speed
#5The whole problem is friction. Give me the robots to build an evacuated tunnel from Australia to the US with a maglev train in it and I'll show you what "speed" means.
Re: Putting on the Brakes: Mankind Nears the End of the Age of Speed
#6Totally incorrect synopsis, humanity IS on the quest for speed. What killed the Concorde was not that humanity was no longer looking for faster ways to communicate, it's that most of their customers died during 911. For the rest of us Twitter / Email, Skype fill the role of quick highly personal information dissemination. Companies like SpaceX and Virgin who dare to explore the boundaries of human travel will take hu…
Not to mention we're throwing much more effort into getting people moving faster, every day, instead of throwing all of our resources getting the ultra-rich faster, sometimes.
Think advances in high speed rail, infrastructure development in mass transit everywhere (except North America, it seems)... Instead of pouring billions into a few showpieces like the Concorde, we're finally working on getting everyone moving faster, more frequently. This is a good thing.
Re: Putting on the Brakes: Mankind Nears the End of the Age of Speed
#7"In the 19th, with trains, they reached 60 mph. In the 20th, with jet aircraft, we could travel at 600 mph. Can we expect 6,000 mph in the 21st?" The 21st century still has 90 years left in it. We have no idea what technologies will emerge in that time. If a technological Singularity occurs, well...
Yes. If we ever manage to build a space elevator for example, it will open up the entire inner solar system for exploration / colonisation, at which point the people that continent hop today will be able to world (planets and large moons) hop tomorrow, with a corresponding jump in the maximum speed that a person will travel at...
Re: Putting on the Brakes: Mankind Nears the End of the Age of Speed
#8The whole problem is friction. Give me the robots to build an evacuated tunnel from Australia to the US with a maglev train in it and I'll show you what "speed" means.
Does the population of Malaysia count as robots?
Re: Putting on the Brakes: Mankind Nears the End of the Age of Speed
#9Totally incorrect synopsis, humanity IS on the quest for speed. What killed the Concorde was not that humanity was no longer looking for faster ways to communicate, it's that most of their customers died during 911. For the rest of us Twitter / Email, Skype fill the role of quick highly personal information dissemination. Companies like SpaceX and Virgin who dare to explore the boundaries of human travel will take hu…
Unmanned craft have left us in the dust
Exactly -- we don't need fast human travel anymore. Our thoughts can travel all over the planet with almost the speed of light.
Travel is risky (however exciting), slow, consumes a lot of resources and causes pollution.
Re: Putting on the Brakes: Mankind Nears the End of the Age of Speed
#10The whole problem is friction. Give me the robots to build an evacuated tunnel from Australia to the US with a maglev train in it and I'll show you what "speed" means.
are you telling me there is less air friction 4km below sea level than there is 12km above it?