A skeptical response to Musk's hyperloop

Re:A skeptical response to Musk's hyperloop by jhuckestein on Wednesday August 14, 2013 @08:43AM (#6211136)

It sounds to me that you have discovered an important and often underestimated property of disruptive ideas. How did an 18 year old change the way we communicate online forever? How could a clerk at the patent office usher in the era of 20th century physics?

It's possible and maybe even easier to have truly breakthrough ideas if you're coming from a different field. You can always catch up on all the knowledge required to execute your idea later.

And yes, often you'll find out that your idea wasn't so great. But at least you didn't dismiss it as out of hand because you didn't come across it in your years of experience in the field.

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Re:A skeptical response to Musk's hyperloop by hollerith on Wednesday August 14, 2013 @09:11AM (#6211231)

It's wrong to think that Einstein was "coming from a different field". He had a PhD in physics from a good school. In his day, physics jobs were much scarcer, so perfectly ordinary physicists tended to need to get non-physics jobs for parts of their careers.

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Re:A skeptical response to Musk's hyperloop by danso on Wednesday August 14, 2013 @10:01AM (#6211513)

Perhaps a better example is how an aspiring poet came to invent the most effective infantry weapon of the last century: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Kalashnikov

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Re:A skeptical response to Musk's hyperloop by lclarkmichalek on Wednesday August 14, 2013 @10:08AM (#6211553)

An aspiring poet who had also been a tank mechanic/weapons designer for 9~ years prior to inventing the most effective infantry weapon of the last century

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Re:A skeptical response to Musk's hyperloop by danso on Wednesday August 14, 2013 @10:20AM (#6211631)

Yes, but he was conscripted in his teens and had begun innovating at that young age.

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Re:A skeptical response to Musk's hyperloop by agilebyte on Wednesday August 14, 2013 @11:01AM (#6211897)

Not sure it is a good analogy. From the article you are referencing he wanted to be an engineer, just an agricultural one. WW2 changed that.

Also, he seems to acknowledge the fact that he was standing on the shoulders of giants:

But one thing is clear: before attempting to create something new, it is vital to have a good appreciation of everything that already exists in this field. I myself have had many experiences confirming this to be so.

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Re:A skeptical response to Musk's hyperloop by jacquesm on Wednesday August 14, 2013 @11:01AM (#6211898)

No, a better example is Elon Musk himself. Paypal, SpaceX, Tesla. That's a pretty good run and I don't think anybody will claim he was an insider to all three industries before he made a significant dent in them.

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Re:A skeptical response to Musk's hyperloop by driverdan on Wednesday August 14, 2013 @10:27AM (#6211660)

It is extremely rare for someone with little to no knowledge or training in a field to step in and change everything. Anyone claiming to do so should is making extraordinary claims and needs to provide extraordinary evidence.

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Re:A skeptical response to Musk's hyperloop by zwieback on Wednesday August 14, 2013 @11:34AM (#6212102)

True, but disruption is extremely rare in mechanical and civil engineering. It's more common in SW and theoretical fields.

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