Tangent, but i just had this discussion. The hyperloop, despite all the flaws, is overall a good idea. And unlike fusion and supraconductivity at 250+K, the flaws are actually solvables! I thought i couldn't be done before 2070 or something, but someone just recently showed me the flwas left, the tech we have at teh moment, and he convinced me that a commercial Hyperloop could be available on SOME short haul flight before 2040.

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There is no way to salvage the hyperloop.

Do you know what is the actual limiting factor in train speed? It's not energy, or friction - we can make really fast trains. No, the limiting factor is radius of curvature needed to maintain confort while turning.

Otherwise, we can already make maglev trains that go 600+km/h, for cheaper than the hyperloop, and without the awful design flaws. But you'd need to destroy a lot of property to do so, so pretty much no one is interested outside of China.

China is not doing maglev either. The only long-distance maglev line actually under construction in the entire world is the Chuo Shinkansen in Japan, and to avoid the property-destruction issue that requires digging 256 km (!!!) of tunnels between Tokyo and Nagoya.

Indeed, there is no long distance maglev line in China, but there are rumors and state funded development in long distance maglev.

> The hyperloop, despite all the flaws, is overall a good idea.

No. Its flaws make the vacuum tunnel version entirely unfeasible. Therefore not a good idea. The non-vacuum version is just a tunnel – Musk doesn't get to call that a "Hyperloop" just because he put Teslas in it.

> the flaws are actually solvables

No. But we don't have to have that debate. We can just sit back, and relax, and our lord and savior Elon Musk will solve the solvables. Then I promise to be the first in line to sing his praises and ride the Hyperloop when the problems are solved. (Hint: they won't be).

Can we please stop praising Musk for things he says he will do? Why does this man get to promise all kinds of shit, and harvest the praise immediately?

No one really wants Musk to build tunnels below their homes and putting in a HyperLoop above ground to anywhere would be near impossible as well. So no HyperLoop. Musk should take the idea to China they would do it, maybe Mexico above ground.

I want him to build one under my home. As long as he pays me.

No. Unless you mean the latest version, which is essentially Teslas in ordinary tunnels. Then, sure. But what's new? I've been in a Tesla in a tunnel before. That's not something Musk can just call Hyperloop.

For some people, time is worth a lot of money, even enough money to make a trip across space worthwile. Not to mention selling the "experience" of no/low gravity, or the opportunity for extremely time critical transports (organs, spare parts for factories).

At some point humanity will have to come to the conclusion that "money" and "experiences" are worth nothing if the planet is destroyed. I don't give a damn if Bezos wants to save 3 hours of his life or if some random dude has a hard on for Musk