Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
spdrun
ParticipantIDK, I see plenty of families on the Boston-NY-DC trains in the Northeast. I think kids even get a 50% discount on tickets.
Not all parents become overpacking bovines the moment they squirt out a kiddo.
ParticipantFrance, Germany, and Japan aren’t terribly flat. Their HSR also goes through populated areas between major cities. If anything, the problem is too little population in CA, not too much.
Robo-cars can’t travel at 150+ mph and pick up power while they’re moving. Not to mention that a fixed guideway is safer at high speeds and metal/metal friction is lower than rubber on road.
The best solution would be HSR and rail with short-distance rental cars at the endpoints.
ParticipantWhy look to the Chinese, Myriad? Look to the French — they managed to roll out HSR at 1/4 of the cost of what the US pays per mile.
ParticipantFlying taxis/buses/etc. Vehicles capable of vertical takeoff don’t tend to be safe or efficient — physics is a real pain in the ass. Keeping something in the air at slow speeds takes a shit-ton of energy. Unless it’s a dirigible, then it’s just huge and fairly unsafe. (Helium supplies are limited, good luck with hydrogen or methane as lifting gases.)
Telecommuting? Maybe if you’re a paper-pusher or code-monkey. Some people have jobs that require actual human interaction, manipulation of physical objects, or lab work.
ParticipantRacism was always there. Obama being elected inflamed the virulent racists and caused them to crawl out from under their rocks. Trump’s ascendancy to office and the MAGA movement gave them a voice and enabled them.
Do you wonder that people who thought they were better off socially and economically are bitter now that the country has taken a few steps backward?
ParticipantI don’t know if “normalizing the fringes” is exactly what the Internet has done, but it’s certainly made it easier for them to have a voice.
ParticipantTech makes things like high-speed rail more useful, not less. Basically, app-based electric rental cars (self-driving or driven) solve the “last mile” problem nicely. And, computers or not, it’s a lot safer to travel 150-200 mph on rails or some other hard guideway vs on a road.
If the rental cars only need a range of 50-100 miles, they can be more efficient, since they don’t need to lug around a heavy battery pack. Also, making fewer batteries is better for the environment. The trains can pick up power en route from a wire, of course.
Also, if trains can also be “self driving”, you can make them shorter and more frequent since you’re removing the fixed cost of a motorman.
Unless we end up with flying cars, which would be terrible energy-wise, we’ll need some kind of surface infrastructure, whether it’s roads or rail. Might as well pick the kind that’s easiest to electrify and least environmentally wasteful.
August 3, 2018 at 5:06 PM in reply to: Expected and unexpected consequences of autonomous cars and trucks #810578ParticipantBest case, this garbage will be mired in the courts for 20 years while regulations are written and re-written.
This being said, autonomous cars will likely be OWNED or solely leased by a significant percent of the population. The car-as-a-service model collapses when you’re lugging things in the car and don’t want to unload them immediately, or if you want to use your car as a giant backpack or handbag.
Most Americans don’t take taxis or ride public transport 100% of the time — I don’t see their habits changing quickly with robo-cars.
ParticipantHope that Found on Road Dead, Inc bankrupts after Iran mines the Strait of Hormuz and oil shoots up to $200/bbl. Their US strategy of building more guzzling SUVs and trucks for the “heartland” crowd plainly sucks.
Apparently, they plan to get rid of all US-market cars other than the Rustang and concentrate on trucks and SUVs only. Bleh. Europe and California are burning up this summer, and no one seems to give a fuck in the US.
Just fiddlin’ while the world burns.
ParticipantSo don’t buy new — most new houses are formaldehyde-infested ticky-tacky boxes anyway. Buy in a nice, established area.
ParticipantIf kids aren’t socialized to play outside and are stuck inside, then they’ll BECOME little monsters when finally let outside. You’re failing to grasp the direction of causation.
Participant
ParticipantI’d be worried if I were outside the US, though. The US is one of the largest military aggressors worldwide, and ability to turn the lights off makes an invasion much easier.
I’d certainly be worried if I were from a Latin American or Caribbean country.
ParticipantI’d be OK with some of the board members responsible for this policy being hit with a discrimination suit. Or just being kicked in the junque repeatedly by an irate parent.
Want total peace and quiet? Buy yourself a nice big trailer somewhere out in the desert. String some barbed wire around it and keep a junkyard dog if it pleases you. Don’t snitch on your neighbors because they have a family and you were too miserable for anyone to breed with you.
-
AuthorPosts
