Re:Ask HN: Would you fly on a Boeing 737 MAX?
by sho_hn on Wednesday January 24, 2024 @12:02PM
(#39119697)
> Would the world be a better place as a result?
Yes, probably. Many places would have e.g. better rail infra if domestic flights were more expensive, and the climate would be better off.
You can argue this is anti-growth or whatever, but this is the same site complaining about RTO initiatives: Perhaps incentivizing personal travel isn't what we want to do or need anyway, and for cargo the air route really doesn't look that good.
Re:Ask HN: Would you fly on a Boeing 737 MAX?
by wepple on Wednesday January 24, 2024 @06:10PM
(#39123893)
This is a really great description of exactly what I’ve mused over in the past.
And to re-iterate: I don’t personally think we should intentionally increase harm in this area, I just find it intriguing where we do and don’t seemingly allow harm
Increased/cheaper travel would also come with some bad externalities: Increased CO2 emissions, and possibly increased rates of cancer (high altitude is a high-radiation environment - not enough for the occasional flyer to worry about but it can add up). ...and of course the externality that lower safety controls means occasionally one of these more frequent flights will fall out of the sky.
One way to think about these kinds of questions is to reverse it - suppose flying had 10x stricter safety controls than it does today. Would the world be a better place as a result? What would be the downsides?
EDIT: I almost forgot perhaps the most important one: If flying is more convenient/cheaper, even if it's slightly less safe than currently, it is still FAR safer than driving and a shift from people driving to people flying means that relaxing flight safety may actually SAVE lives.