Elon Musk will begin construction on a Hyperloop test-track soon. - Polidicks

[QUOTE] Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla (TSLA), tweeted Thursday that he will be building a Hyperloop test track, "most likely in Texas." The billionaire entrepreneur first unveiled the concept in 2013. At the time he said that he wouldn't take an active role in the project's development. The Hyperloop would consist of tubes in which pod-like cars would be pushed and pulled by a series of electric motors. They'd be similar to the pneumatic tubes that were once used to send mail and packages between buildings. [/QUOTE] [url]http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/15/technology/elon-musk-hyperloop/index.html[/url]

Musk is the champion of progress

He will also announce that he's manufacturing satellites in Seattle tomorrow, and today he donated 10 million dollars to make sure AI doesn't destroy humanity.

[QUOTE=OvB;46944065]He will also announce that he's manufacturing satellites in Seattle tomorrow, and today he donated 10 million dollars to make sure AI doesn't destroy humanity.[/QUOTE] so super-smart rockets are allowed but benders aren't? so unfair!

Wasn't he like, "here's the plans go build it yourself whoever has the balls to do so"?

[QUOTE=OvB;46944065]He will also announce that he's manufacturing satellites in Seattle tomorrow, and today he donated 10 million dollars to make sure AI doesn't destroy humanity.[/QUOTE] You all think I'm joking. [url]http://www.wired.com/2015/01/elon-musk-ai-safety/[/url] Wait and see about the satellite thing.

[QUOTE=OvB;46944428]You all think I'm joking. [url]http://www.wired.com/2015/01/elon-musk-ai-safety/[/url] Wait and see about the satellite thing.[/QUOTE] It's a somewhat paranoid concern among many in the futurist community that the creation of AI will doom humanity. And there's a spin-off belief founded in insanity that any who don't directly contribute to the creation of the AI that dooms humanity will be hunted down and tortured Matrix-meets-IHaveNoMouth-style forever.

Why is this man so cool Can he be my father I want to drink liquor and smoke cigars with him while he whispers sweet quantum mechanics equations in my ear.

I kept this link from when it was first announced. I'm not sure how much is still relevant or being considered, but it was an awesome read at the time. [url]http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/hyperloop_alpha3.pdf[/url]

[QUOTE=Bradyns;46944565]I kept this link from when it was first announced. I'm not sure how much is still relevant or being considered, but it was an awesome read at the time. [url]http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/hyperloop_alpha3.pdf[/url][/QUOTE] I wish I knew what any of that meant.

Sounds great, but I'll believe it when I see it.

[QUOTE=RoboChimp;46944964]Sounds great, but I'll believe it when I see it.[/QUOTE] Same. I think upgrading the USAs railway network to high speed rail might be a better long term idea. Firstly because in the case of high speed rail you don't need to build new lines over private and public land (which the hyperloop will inevitably have to do and planning permission is a bitch). It's going to go through a lot of court battles. The other big problem I've seen is that the carriages (if you call them those) don't look very comfortable or like they can carry many people. At least with airlines you can walk about to take a piss and get snacks or food. They also carry more people. I can't really see the hyperloop getting off the ground. It's expensive, Musk isn't a civil engineer, much of the technology is untested, and it will take decades to develop the infrastructure for if it is feasible. Maglev itself is only just coming into commercial use after decades of research and development, and I'm wondering why we don't work with maglev instead.

[QUOTE=Deng;46945180]Same. I think upgrading the USAs railway network to high speed rail might be a better long term idea. Firstly because in the case of high speed rail you don't need to build new lines over private and public land (which the hyperloop will inevitably have to do and planning permission is a bitch). It's going to go through a lot of court battles. The other big problem I've seen is that the carriages (if you call them those) don't look very comfortable or like they can carry many people. At least with airlines you can walk about to take a piss and get snacks or food. They also carry more people. I can't really see the hyperloop getting off the ground. It's expensive, Musk isn't a civil engineer, much of the technology is untested, and it will take decades to develop the infrastructure for if it is feasible. Maglev itself is only just coming into commercial use after decades of research and development, and I'm wondering why we don't work with maglev instead.[/QUOTE]I'd say just buy TRV train technology off France.

Can he start bringing some of his stuff to other parts of the world I mean its great that he does all this stuff in the US but share some of it with the rest of the world FFS. I still want to buy my damn Tesla

[QUOTE=damnatus;46944392]Wasn't he like, "here's the plans go build it yourself whoever has the balls to do so"?[/QUOTE] Musk defies conventional roles by being the one with balls, instead of the customary balls being the one with musk

Does anyone else feel as if Elon Musk is the our generations Howard Hughes. I just did a quick google search after posting it appears some of the mainstream media seems to think so too.

[QUOTE=OvB;46944428]You all think I'm joking. [url]http://www.wired.com/2015/01/elon-musk-ai-safety/[/url] Wait and see about the satellite thing.[/QUOTE] This is some Deus Ex shit.

[QUOTE=Grimhound;46944446]It's a somewhat paranoid concern among many in the futurist community that the creation of AI will doom humanity. [/QUOTE] It seems a bit silly because AI still have so far to go, but can you think of anything more dangerous than something that is smarter than you? Humans have thoroughly fucked just about every other lifeform of this planet by virtue of being smarter. The only species that are thriving are the ones we farm and the ones that eat our trash. A superintelligent AI could save our asses or kill us off and we wouldn't have a say in it either way.

[QUOTE=Matto;46945480]It seems a bit silly because AI still have so far to go, but can you think of anything more dangerous than something that is smarter than you? [B]Humans have thoroughly fucked just about every other lifeform of this planet by virtue of being smarter.[/B] The only species that are thriving are the ones we farm and the ones that eat our trash. A superintelligent AI could save our asses or kill us off and we wouldn't have a say in it either way.[/QUOTE] That's rather exaggerated. We haven't glassed the surface of Earth yet AFAIR.

While it sounds great, it also sounds like a maintenance nightmare. Countless amazing technologies/inventions have been rejected in favour of simpler, more reliable stuff due to reliability issues. Also, the US is huge, this would probably be easier in Europe or Japan.

[QUOTE=Medevila;46945843]High speed rail is much, much more expensive than the Hyperloop would be [editline]16th January 2015[/editline] in reference to the Musk-proposed SF to LA loop, "The key advantages of a tube vs. a railway track are that it can be built above the ground on pylons and it can be built in prefabricated sections that are dropped in place and joined with an orbital seam welder. By building it on pylons, you can almost entirely avoid the need to buy land by following alongside the mostly very straight California Interstate 5 highway, with only minor deviations when the highway makes a sharp turn. Even when the Hyperloop path deviates from the highway, it will cause minimal disruption to farmland roughly comparable to a tree or telephone pole, which farmers deal with all the time. A ground based high speed rail system by comparison needs up to a 100 ft wide swath of dedicated land to build up foundations for both directions, forcing people to travel for several miles just to get to the other side of their property. It is also noisy, with nothing to contain the sound, and needs unsightly protective fencing to prevent animals, people or vehicles from getting on to the track. Risk of derailment is also not to be taken lightly, as demonstrated by several recent fatal train accidents."[/QUOTE] This is probably the big advantage of Hyperloop, much easier to fit and place compared to a full fledged high speed train.

[QUOTE=Medevila;46945843]High speed rail is much, much more expensive than the Hyperloop would be[/quote] The biggest advantages are mitigated by the increased costs however. For mass transport to be really effective, you want it going straight into the city (or at least connect it to the other transportation systems). Hyperloop could reduce costs a lot by simply going to the boundary of cities, but then people will still have to take conventional transport into the city. In addition, we still aren't sure about opposition to the hyperloop. An elevated transport system has a bigger footprint than a telephone pole. [quote]By building it on pylons, you can almost entirely avoid the need to buy land by following alongside the mostly very straight California Interstate 5 highway, with only minor deviations when the highway makes a sharp turn. Even when the Hyperloop path deviates from the highway, it will cause minimal disruption to farmland roughly comparable to a tree or telephone pole, which farmers deal with all the time. A ground based high speed rail system by comparison needs up to a 100 ft wide swath of dedicated land to build up foundations for both directions, forcing people to travel for several miles just to get to the other side of their property. It is also noisy, with nothing to contain the sound, and needs unsightly protective fencing to prevent animals, people or vehicles from getting on to the track. Risk of derailment is also not to be taken lightly, as demonstrated by several recent fatal train accidents."[/quote] Therein lies the problem. You still have to buy a fairly hefty portion of land where the highways make turns. Elevated transport systems are still expensive (which is why they are only built in cities or other areas where land is expensive). What about seismic activity in California? For the proposed budget of $7 billion I honestly don't think that is enough money. Let's look at oil pipelines. They are much smaller than the hyperloop needs to be, and they don't need safety features for people travelling in them either. They still cost a good $5 million or so per mile to build. In addition, pretty much all of Europe, Japan, China, etc are all busy building massive high speed railway networks to connect up their countries. They have all done them fairly successfully, have proven their economic worth, and have been found reliable. Many of them go through populated areas to boot. And with 840 passengers an hour at $20 for a one way ticket? Sorry that's simply not going to cut it.