NYC to DC in 29 minutes!?! thats like 400 mph. fastest hyperloop cant even reach 300 mph, and thats on a 1 mile long test track. the technology isnt there, and the energy required to keep the tube at vacuum and move the trains is unsustainable. this is ridiculous grifting for public funds, musk's specialty
NYC to DC in 29 minutes!?!
You know he said to his engineers "You guys aren't thinking big enough. 2 hours? The best you can do is 2 hours? I bet I can shave that down by ~75%." He starts writing some math on the whiteboard. He's intentionally scribbled a lot of it so it's illegible. He's been talking and saying stuff like "It's really quite elementary once you simplify." The engineers are already familiar with "Elon math". It's total nonsense. But they can't talk about it with outsiders due to their NDAs.
He stops writing and turns to face them. "Okay." And he does a Star Trek impression "Make it so." One suck-up engineer starts politely clapping. Elon looks around the room as if to say "Why aren't you clapping." They all clap. Elon preens like a peacock.
It's my best guess how he got to 29 minutes. I think even Elon realized he couldn't say anything lower than 30 because nobody would believe him. But then he realized he could still do his magic and shave off a minute.
We could just build a mag lev and get there in an hour, that tech is there.
:deeper-sadness:
we could, but that exists in reality, so we wont
As capital seeks to eke out even more new markets to speculate on, it does make sense for the basic infrastructure of our country to be included in that.
Nothing real will be produced here again so long as speculative market bubbles make more near term profit
Maglev on a test track in Japan does >600kmh (~370mph). Speeds for public operation on the track being built right now is planned to be >300mph, so easily plenty under an hour on currently working technology.
I'm going to go fucking insane if the government keeps giving this grifter money.
Also - what grinds my gears is that "journalists" never call him on his shit. There was a zero percent chance he'd ever build it. It was impossible from every angle: technologically, financially, legally, etc. All he did was make some whizbang CGI vids and say it was coming and the journos fell all over each other praising him as a genius and a visionary.
:melon-musk: "The govt. official said 'The minute you can deliver half of what you're selling, you have approval', then made a pumping motion near his crotch. I take that to be a sign of enthusiasm for the project!"
I'd say something pithy about half of that distance being swamp, but this is the same guy who tried to sell underground not-subways in Florida, so it's probably a waste of time.
I can imagine this Twitter exchange...
Mr. Musk - how can you build a hyperloop through a SWAMP?
That makes it easier.
How? That makes no sense.
And - of course - there's no follow up.
But the people they cater to already have personal transit solutions to get around.
I really can't imagine the typical super-rich person using the hyperloop when they have options that are probably more appealing to them like helicopters and super-appointed limos.
His bazinga Vegas tunnel is less than a mile long and it cost $48 million.
I seriously wonder how much it would cost Elon to make a proof-of-concept 10 mile hyperloop tunnel in an loop that actually works, that can be ridden day after day, that isn't a one trip sham for just journos.
Or - "for convenience" he puts the capsule move above ground on a track and "for safety" he has it go at 1/5th the "actual speed". Hey! He's reinvented trains!
Just received verbal approval
I swear to fucking god, anyone who still believes this is too dumb to breath.
Exasperated government official: "sUrE eLoN, gO aHeAd aNd bUiLd yOuR iMaGiNaRy vAcUuM tRaIn, jUsT mAkE sUrE yOuR eLf wOrKeRs hAvE tHeIr PiXiE vIsAs."
Elon: "verbal permission received."
