Re:The grid isn’t ready for 300M EVs by 2030
by nostrademons on Saturday May 06, 2023 @05:39PM
(#35845574)
> OK, create an incredibly complex transportation system that adds a ton of mechanical failure points—so buddy can read his book uninterrupted, take a nap, or watch a TV show? And what's the net gain for humanity here?
Yes, that's precisely the point - to get back the hours spent commuting so you don't have to think about them and can do other more productive or enjoyable things with that time. If you spend 8 hours working at $50/hour and then 2 hours commuting, that's $100/day or roughly $2000/month in saved time. Most people would consider that worthwhile.
> If they feel they need to nap in public then maybe their work-life balance is problematic.
No shit, but cutting time wasted in commuting is generally an easier sell than cutting time spend actually working or engaged in leisure activities.
> What about fail states? What happens when a pod transfer issue means the whole train is brought to a halt? What happens if there's an unexpected obstacle in front of the car running alongside the train?
The same way we've made air travel so safe that you don't need to think about it, despite the tens of thousands of parts in a modern jetliner. Engineer the hell out of it, and build in multiple redundancies and failsafes.
> Quite honestly, most people probably don't even need to be in the office, let alone all the time.
If remote work actually worked, we should do that instead.
Not everyone is a software engineer or knowledge worker, and it's likely that the fraction of people who are is going to go down in the future.
Yes, that's precisely the point - to get back the hours spent commuting so you don't have to think about them and can do other more productive or enjoyable things with that time. If you spend 8 hours working at $50/hour and then 2 hours commuting, that's $100/day or roughly $2000/month in saved time. Most people would consider that worthwhile.
> If they feel they need to nap in public then maybe their work-life balance is problematic.
No shit, but cutting time wasted in commuting is generally an easier sell than cutting time spend actually working or engaged in leisure activities.
> What about fail states? What happens when a pod transfer issue means the whole train is brought to a halt? What happens if there's an unexpected obstacle in front of the car running alongside the train?
The same way we've made air travel so safe that you don't need to think about it, despite the tens of thousands of parts in a modern jetliner. Engineer the hell out of it, and build in multiple redundancies and failsafes.
> Quite honestly, most people probably don't even need to be in the office, let alone all the time.
If remote work actually worked, we should do that instead.
Not everyone is a software engineer or knowledge worker, and it's likely that the fraction of people who are is going to go down in the future.