Slashdot Mirror
Elon Musk Admits He Is Too Busy To Build Hyperloop
DavidGilbert99 writes "It sounded like the future — a 600mph train taking people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just 30mins. In fact it sounded like a future too good to be true. And so it seems to have proven. As Alistair Charlton at IBTimes reports, Elon Musk, the man behind PayPal, Tesla and Space X has admitted that Hyperloop is a step too far and he should never have mentioned it in the first place — 'I think I shot myself in the foot by ever mentioning the Hyperloop. I'm too strung out.' Oh well, let's hope SpaceX works out a bit better ... " Considering that SpaceX has already sent materials to the ISS and retrieved the capsule, it seems to have worked out pretty well so far.
If its a good and solid idea/plan, someone else could/should do it. Eccentric billionaires groves on trees, right?
Great article!
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/497781/20130808/elon-musk-admit-busy-make-hyperloop-shot.htm
who where what when now?
I get the feeling that if we had about a dozen Elon Musks we would be living in the 2010's version we see in 40 year old sci-fi films...
Ok, the Hyperloop is a bit too much (for now), but the work he's done with Tesla and SpaceX is amazing. And don't forget he had PayPal back when it was a good thing!
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Maybe he could . . . you know . . . hire somebody to build it for him rather than doing it himself.
and nice 404 link.
Also, I think it was wise of him to back out. I don't see how he could build something like this any cheaper than high speed rails.
Link is broke. First!
Elon Musk Admits he is Too Busy to Build Hyperloop
The editors should be paying me to do their homework.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
All he has to do is announce an investment in high speed rail service. Nothing would benefit Americans (or the national infrastructure) more than a rail network that isn't over a hundred years old.
This just completely shattered my illusions of Elon Musk as a real life Tony Stark.
If the man is too strung out he obviously needs to refocus his efforts into personal cloning. Imagine what an army of Elon Musks could do.
I wonder if he realized all the people "on his side" pushing trains would turn around once it got started and put tens to hundreds of millions in lawsuits in the way about environmental studies, hiring union people, and anything else they can think up, not coincidentally buying time for people to throw up apartments in the way, or cram warehouses in the way full of old machinery, all of which must be bought at vastly overinflated government condemnation appraisals.
More stories from Washington, and bankrupting Detroit in this month's issue of Actual Tales From Actual Freakin' Reality.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Launching through cleared airspace is probably much easier than trying to secure right-of-ways for a slightly-subsonic transport through thousands of municipalities, state and federal lands, and individual property owners, not to mention likely tangles with the EPA and whatever unions might be involved. Plus, a high-profile transportation project like that might pick up TSA attention too.
Maybe DD Harriman though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delos_D._Harriman
Is to hire some competent management team to execute on his vision. Or is it that he is unable to devolve responsibility? How do you think IK Brunel managed so many achievements in what was a relatively short lifetime? Or for those yankee doodle dandy's who cant relate to anything outside their own culture and sphere of experience, look up Vannevar Bush and what he was able to achieve through the management of good people.
Unfortunately, the capacity of the web server was too small for him to be able to release any details.
MONORAIL! Sing along everyone!
Musk has been talking about Hyperloop at least a year now. He promised to release more details in the summer of last year. Nothing happened. Only a year full of fantastic claims and now this. He is probably right though - either release something or stfu.
So Musk's vision for a train in a long tube is just...a pipe dream?
NEVER!
I think the reality is few people would like to strap themselves into a coffin and fly down a tube at 4000 mph considering that we can't even prevent trains from crashing in the 21st century. I mean think of how ridiculous that trains actually crash? The one in Spain crashed because it was going to fast around the corner because the driver was texting on his phone. Why would there not be simply some mechanical/electrical switch that triggers the train to slow down automatically approaching sharp corners?
I mean mankind wants to build cars that drives themselves, but we haven't figured out how to make stuff that can only drive on a set of rails safe and autonomous. Why the hell do we even have Train engineers when the source of most train crashes is human failure? Hell we even have planes that can land themselves on auto pilot and I think the physics and technology involve in landing a flying object is significantly more complicated than trying to control something stuck on a set of rails.
So I can only imaging how much humans could screw up something as simple as a capsule being fired down a tube.
I am sure that technically this is a very feasible transportation solution, but lets figure out how to stop trains from crashing into each other or running off the rails because they are going to fast FIRST before we string the planet together with tubes.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
It sounded like the future — a 600mph train taking people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just 30mins. In fact it sounded like a future too good to be true.
A future where SF and LA are only 300 miles apart does sound a little unlikely.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
The page was not found.
He obviously needs to start working on cloning sooner than later.
> whatthefuckamireading.jpg
fuck philantrophy, I am too busy building my iron man suit
Would you rather someone post another eulogy for Steve Jobs? Ooh, ahh, he gave us the iPod. Blessed be his name.
Musk is a geek hero because he actually has some vision, and follows through on it. That's something that's sorely lacking these days, when Facebook is considered a brilliant innovation. We miss the 19th and early/mid 20th centuries, when real innovators created everything from railroads to exploring the solar system.
Not successfully. No where in the world do passenger trains operate profitably without subsidies.
Name me one location where automobiles operate profitably without subsidies. You think those roads were built with private money? Even the occasional toll road is only possible because it feeds into a network of publicly financed roads. You seriously think that automobiles and airplanes aren't heavily subsidized?
Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work, but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it; I'm swamped.
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
Now, I'm not saying Elon Musk is going to jail for aggravated sexual obese or anything, but the fact is, every announcement from him or Tesla that I've seen is full of half truths and outright misinformation.
Among the many problems with hyperloop is elevation changes. If you're going even 1000 miles per hour, the minimum turning radius to stay less than half a g is 25 miles. There are 4000 ft mountains between LA and SF, and either you have to build a 80 mile long tunnel through them (pretty expensive) or build a viaduct that is 2000 ft high and 100 miles long. Going around the mountains might make more sense, but you're going to end up way out to sea.
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
Your link goes to a 404 error page. Further, Elon Musk talked at length this morning on a Google+ hangout about Hyperloop. Whether he forms a company that builds this or he inspires people to cooperate in building it, the key is to move. So far, the comments above seem to be all non-inspired negativity.
Hmm, trains travelling 200 mph, vs airplanes travelling 500 mph. Airplanes don't require any track. Granted, it is possible to lay high speed rail track for lower costs, but America can not do it.
Don't see it working out for long-distance travel (turns at high speed, elevation changes, land-purchasing/leasing problems), but for regional/urban transport, the whole air-pressure-differential tube-transport thing (preferably in transparent tubes for the view) is a winner ... with individual programmable capsules that do the driving with built-in collision dampers. All the motive power is created at one location; powered by renewable energy, it eliminates pollution and fuel costs.
"You must try to forget all you have learned. You must begin to dream." -- Sherwood Anderson
Engineering is about compromises. First, didn't read TFA, but 600 MPH in the summary clashes with your 1000 MPH. Did it say 'mean speed of 600', as opposed to peak speed?
Second, a 'pinnacle' design could make this work. Think like new coasters that either have a 2nd acceleration point or reverse back to start: Go fast, then slow down, then go fast again. Modern engineering's got more than a few tricks -- mix 'em up: pod accelerates at each end, undergoes inductive breaking in as few spots as possible, goes 'slowly' where it makes sense, introduces banks/curves to keep the G-forces palatable, and chooses a route that optimizes against all of these.
If you tell me I can go SFO to LAX in 38 minutes instead of 30 (and a net transit of 60 mins), I'm still happier than I'd be with current alternatives, whether driving or air. Hell, get me and a ton of freight there in under 2 hours and I'd like it.
If you're going even 1000 miles per hour
Or you could go a little slower through the mountains. Half that speed and your turning radius is just over six miles which is much more reasonable.
Whoa whoa whoa! I was with you until the porn part. I'm sorry but comic book porn is no substitute for good old fashion skin slapping skin action. Also pixelating your porn (even the cartoon shit) is utterly stupid and ineffective at any type of "conservatism"