As Hyperloop One shuts down, we need to remember that the Hyperloop was never meant to be built.
Elon Musk’s goal was never to transform transportation for the masses, but to stop or delay high-speed rail from reaching North America. Sadly, he succeeded — and we all lost as a result. While the rest of the world moved forward, the US remains stuck in the past.
@parismarx Capitalizing on buzzwords like "pods" or "vacuum tunnels", he played the pipers flute to captivate the techbros.
Whats really needed is a public transportation of trains, trams and buses that's publicly managed with subcontractors, not a corporation with monopoly. A system that gets priority over all car traffic that people can rely on to just work.
Like red blood cells transporting oxygen in a body, not the blood clot that is induced demand car traffic. #urbanism#walkablecities
@cragsand@parismarx What is so sad about this is that so many people bought into it immediately, without considering even for a second the logistical realities of attempting to build an evacuated tunnel hundreds of miles long. It was obviously a boondoggle from the very beginning. Why are people so willing to believe in tech-wrapped delusional fantasy, and so unwilling to do the easy, non-technological things we should be doing to improve the world?
@gcvsa@parismarx Tunnels are horrific for evacuating people during emergencies. They need to be constantly monitored for toxic CO & CO2 and regular emergency evacuation points for leaving vehicles.
Having individual people drive themselves (not trains) increases the risk of accidents and crashes exponentially, aggravating the problem.
It's a horrible idea with horrible implementation. The only good thing the "boring company" could have done is make subway digging for trains and trams cheaper.
@gcvsa@parismarx Yeah evacuating gas to form a vacuum in order to reduce air resistance introduces so many drawbacks that don't justify the benefits.
Performing vacuum experiments in a freeze dryer makes you consider a lot of problems. Imagining tunnels of miles of vacuum... they need regular shut off sections that introduce complexity to an already complicated issues.
Vacuum tunnels for transportation I only see being viable on other planets like Mars and that's a whole other can of worms...
@parismarx Hyperloop - the big version of old department store pneumatic tube systems - was always obviously beyond stupid.
What was surprising was not Musk proposing it (he's rather more of a circus side-show huckster than a technologist) but, rather that so many seemly intelligent people went for it and wasted $$ trying to build this highly foreseeable tecno-disaster.
@adriano@parismarx I think you may be correct, at least in part. But I don't feel comfortable ascribing to so many (probably smart and decent) people the idea that they want to block the California High Speed Rail project (of which I am a strong supporter.)
@parismarx This is a good breakdown! I do think this may give Musk too much credit, though. There was already organized opposition to California’s HSR project, and their stance of “just don’t build it” proved distressingly popular even without an enticing alternative. The people who’ve delayed the project aren’t the ones pursuing a fantastical vision for the future—rather, they’re the ones who think the status quo is actually just fine.
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