Elon Musk just unveiled his 'Alpha' initial design and concept of the 'Hyperloop'. The Hyperloop seems to be a high speed (~900km/h), low friction transportation system that Musk says would take travellers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes.
This concept reminds me of something that was talked about in the original 'Zeitgeist' film as well as old 70's and 80's sci-fi books that I used to read. I think Asimov or Bradbury would have loved this idea.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/18/4534476/how-will-elon-musks-hyperloop-work
http://live.theverge.com/live-hyperloop-announcement-elon-musk/
Any thoughts guys?
seems kinda pointless, just because it can go fast doesnt mean it's infinitely useful, other than shipping i cant think of any job or such that could benefit from this greatly. that's not saying it wouldnt be cool. just kinda useless right now.
Do you have any idea the impact it would make on freight shipping if this technology was implemented in a correct manner? It could change the way we fundamentally understand railway freight shipping here in the US. Instead of spending an entire week to get millions of tons of ore, coal, liquid and gaseous petroleum from one coast to the other, it could be done in a faction of the time. Let me tell you, the current generation Diesel Electric Rail Locomotives are powerfull as all hell but this new technology could change everything.
did you read my post? thats kinda what i said, it would be good for shipping and such, but otherwise kinda pointless.
I remember seing this on the history channel a few years ago so elon didnt come up with the idea he just made it popular and the same concept is in Fahrenheit 451.
so I don't know why everyone in the media is crediting him with coming up with the idea.
Industry pushes the consumer market dude. You don't understand, your point of it being pointless is irrelevant because it WILL change the way we think about travel across the US.
even if it does work and gets popular, then it will start working against itself, because it kinda defeats the purpose of really high speed travel if the way they get around, and then the tubes start having too many trains on them, and this is odd to bring up, but it could also be worse for travel, with cars and even trains to some extent there is a period of time to react if something happens, but this would be going way too fast to allow any response time for anyone. and it will be irrelevant if he isnt even doing anything with, which i heard that he was just getting the idea out there, if it changes the way we think of travel around the us then it wont be solely because of him, and it will likely take a while for other people to completely understand it. and what's to say the industry would even adopt this, even if it exists, remember companies go with the route that provies the most profit, and this doesnt look too profitable.
The media isn't crediting him with the 'idea', and I don't think Elon Musk is taking credit for the idea. What's important here is that the people who have reviewed his design and initial implementation state that his science is solid. The technology already exists as Tesla has already led the way in linear induction motor technology. I suggest giving the articles a more thorough read before passing judgement here. Elon Musk doesn't even want to build it or make money on it, he just wants it built.