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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.
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.
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
Not ones with any ambition to innovate.
I had to add those last 2 words because many have tons of ambition to grow their empire or fortune.
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.
You had me at "competent management".
PlusFive Slashdot reader for Android. Can post comments.
In the long run his competition is with space. Space flight between two cities is quite fast, and doesn't require the huge tracts of land that this would.
Space flight is incredibly inefficient.
You lift a tin can above the atmosphere only to drop it back in a little later. All the energy you used to lift it will be lost.
It also doesn't scale very well.
Secure messaging: http://quickmsg.vreeken.net/
It's dumb. It's a highway of driverless cars, with a private company paying for both the highway and cars.
What's dumb about that? If they provide a useful service, people will pay for it.
His only good observation was "banks are ripping people off - why can't I rip them off too, but with the internets."
Why do you feel so ripped off by PayPal? You could also take this time to reread the first part of my post.
Why are you so negative about everything? :p
which is totally what she said
Maybe we just need to figure out how to apply regenerative braking to rocket engines...
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.
"Groves" on trees? [/facepalm]
I think you've invented a new eggcorn.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
It's a highway of driverless cars
I believe it's called a "railroad". I wonder if it's ever been tried as a business model?
He obviously needs to start working on cloning sooner than later.
It's bad for another reason too. Earth Quakes.
Earthquakes take time to propagate, so unless it is built right on the faultline, there will be time to react.
Protip: If you immediately see a serious problem with something you know almost about, it is likely that the responsible professionals are already aware of the problem and have considered it in their design.
I believe it's called a "railroad". I wonder if it's ever been tried as a business model?
Not successfully. No where in the world do passenger trains operate profitably without subsidies.
It scales better than the Hyperloop would and the energy efficiency is probably better than the Hyperloop as well. Unless of course there's a way of keeping the entire tube in a state of vacuum.
Space flight between two cities is quite fast, and doesn't require the huge tracts of land that this would.
Here's a suggestion for a proof of concept: buy a surplus ICBM and squeeze yourself into the re-entry vehicle. If it works for you, I'll try it. If it doesn't work, the re-entry will save your survivors the cost of burying you, as you'll already be a lot deeper than 6 feet.
What you meant to say is, "Nowhere in the world do roads compete successfully with railroads except thanks to road and motor vehicle subsidies."
You lift a tin can above the atmosphere and transport it frictionless through space instead of pushing it through hundreds of billions of air molecules.
fuck philantrophy, I am too busy building my iron man suit
Exactly. Just like high-speed trains would be a bad idea in other earthquake-prone areas, such as Japan.
Why does it have to be profitable? If the economic benefits on the area are great enough it will pay for itself through economic growth. That's what governments are for, to finance things that benefit the people but don't necessarily make a profit.
Help I am stuck in a signature factory!
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.
What, you've never seen a fractal tree before?
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Protip: If you immediately see a serious problem with something you know almost about, it is likely that the responsible professionals are already aware of the problem and have considered it in their design.
Lawyers call this first-year syndrome. You know enough to be dangerous, but not enough to know that you are dangerous.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
I believe it's called a "railroad". I wonder if it's ever been tried as a business model?
Not successfully. No where in the world do passenger trains operate profitably without subsidies.
Now there's a [citation needed] if I ever saw one, SNCF is booking half a billion per quarter. The TGV network is a goldmine.
(At any given moment there's more high-speed equipment waiting to depart at Gare du Nord than exists in all of North America.)
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
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?
Sounds much more comfortable and less degrading than flying coach.
It's bad for another reason too. Earth Quakes.
Japan has earthquakes too, much more often and intense than we have on the west coast (we haven't actually had a large one since 1999). Japan has a fairly substantial rail system, complete with high speed lines. If they can do it, why can't we?
Earthquakes take time to propagate, so unless it is built right on the faultline, there will be time to react.
Now map a route from LA to San Francisco that avoids all the significant faultlines.
Remember that you are building a 400 mile enclosure for an on-demand automated "rail" system for cars travelling at 600 miles per hour. Not a vacuum tunnel but more like a pressurized system where significant breaks are going to have serious consequences.
While SNCF eventually got to the point it could generate large profits on its own, the French rail network benefitted heavily from state subsidy in the 20th century. Without the state support to expand the rail network, there would have been no present-day SNCF. Therefore, the OP's point that no country's passenger rail system has functioned purely as a private business is valid.
It's bad for another reason too. Earth Quakes.
Which is the argument I hear from anyone who doesn't live here; "I'm not going to California, too many earthquakes." So, nothing should happen here I guess becuase its possible a devistating earthquake will hit (Loma Prieta was like 20 years ago by the way). Meanwhile the east coast gets hit with hurricanes EVERY SEASON w/loss of life.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
While SNCF eventually got to the point it could generate large profits on its own, the French rail network benefitted heavily from state subsidy in the 20th century. Without the state support to expand the rail network, there would have been no present-day SNCF. Therefore, the OP's point that no country's passenger rail system has functioned purely as a private business is valid.
In that case we can argue that rail is far more successful than any road network.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
(At any given moment there's more high-speed equipment waiting to depart at Gare du Nord than exists in all of North America.)
But can you buy Freedom Fries on the train?
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.
And the food is better too.
No sewage system in the world runs profitably either.
I agree on railroad business requiring subsidies. In fact, as public transport, it should probably be run by the public (ie, government) to ensure less profitable but important lines stay open. Hell, we Dutch should never have privatized rail. It's never been a worse mess.
Now map a route from LA to San Francisco that avoids all the significant faultlines.
Not that hard. There are major faults in LA and SF, but the "train" can get clear of those cities before it accelerates to full speed. It can still avoid significant faultlines for the middle 90% of the journey.
I'm sure after some number of orbits it becomes more efficient then flying around the earth repeatedly. Using dollars as a proxy for fuel that number would be very high.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
*sigh*.... Freedom Fries....
They're sophisticated if you put vinegar or mayonnaise on them :) And mayonnaise is French!
Sometimes I like fancy food myself, but can you honestly tell me you don't like french fries?
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.
Since you said "nowhere", this is false. In general, you are sadly correct.
So here is my clarification:
The majority of rail systems, both urban and long distance, in Japan, are privately built and operated.
In the USA, the Great Northern Railroad was built and operated entirely with private funding. The land it was built on was all purchased from its rightful owners, without state granting or manipulation.
The Great Northern was so successful that the other competing railroads that were already entangled with politicians and subsidies continually used political favor to try and hurt or shut down the GN.
The GN lines today have been absorbed into the Amtrak system as the "Empire Builder" route between Chicago and Seattle.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
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.
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
The OP's point is that no railroad network turns a profit; they need to be subsidized. That's false. That the SNCF had to be subsidized at some point during its growth is another thing entirely: few large-scale projects like road and rail networks could've happened without the government being involved at some point in the process.
*sigh*.... Freedom Fries....
They're sophisticated if you put vinegar or mayonnaise on them :) And mayonnaise is French!
Sometimes I like fancy food myself, but can you honestly tell me you don't like french fries?
Alors! Si on n'avait pas les patates frites, comment est-que on peut avoir la Poutine!
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
He said he'd release more details on August 12th. Is it August 12th yet?
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.
link in summary is broken. i tried to read rfta and failed! what is hyperloop?
space you get tang made with your own filtered urine (I though tang was dehydrated urine but evidently its not) and freeze dried brown food like product. i guess you do get better service in space.
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
600 miles per hour is roughly 270 meters/second. Even if one brakes at the rate of a good car, roughly 0.7 gee, that's still stopping in about 40 seconds which would be good enough for most of the track. If simultaneously, the air flow is slowed down, then that gets rid of most of the danger in such a vehicle.
At that point, you just need to insure that for the strength of earthquakes that are likely to be experienced, that the track doesn't fail in a fatal way (such as dropping oh, 10 meters from a height to the ground or being buried under a large landslide).
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.
Similar to Psych 101 syndrome. Running around diagnosing everyone with no idea what you're talking about.
Why? It's how satellites work.