I'm on the fence as to the feasibility of Elon Musk's HyperLoop transportation system. As you know by now, it's a series of tubes that has pods that go about 800 mph getting folks from one place to another really fast. The most popular example is from Los Angeles to SF in little more than 30 minutes.
I think the biggest problem such a system, if someone was to try building one, would be government, activists, and just a whole host of concerns, and mostly valid I might add, that has to be dealt with before it ground could be broken.
Still, hurdles are mean to be overcome and that's what America is about. Still is.
Now, this Time post titled "4 Reasons Elon Musk’s Hyperloop Could Tank" offer reasons that are not really reasons but reasons why Musk or anyone else should even think about try to build a HyperLoop or even just a proof of concept.
Two of the reasons has to do with technical issues that I'm certain our engineers, especially those at Telsa and Space X, two of Musk's hottest companies going on now, have thought of or will overcome. Back when Apple was working on the original iPhone and they came up with the problem of scratches that would plague the prototype iPhone.
Steve Jobs didn't say, "it'll never work...shelf this piece of sh...". No, he went to Corning and demanded that they find a solution. And a solution they did find - it's called Gorilla Glass. Today, Corning is the biggest provider of glass screens to mobile device makers - used in more than one billion devices. And what are we on now? Gorilla Glass 3 or 4?
The other reason that Hyperloop may not take off is that Musk is busy. Fine. Doesn't mean he or someone else won't keep at it until it happens. No one thought these tubes were going to spring up overnight.
And lastly, the worst one reason why HyperLoop will never see the light of day. It has nothing to do with scheduling, resources, or science. And it's the one I've got the most problem with: failures. Time suggests that because history is a cemetery of failed ideas and HyperLoop isn't likely to be any different.
Here's the thing. People fail all the time. Projects fail. Ideas fail. But we learn from them. We build on them. And when we try again, we get better at it. And that's why this Time post is idiotic and should HyperLoop get started on, fail or not, we will be better off for it.
Let's face it. The Segway is by most accounts a failure but its still around.
I think Musk has the potential to be the next Steve Jobs because of his willingness to push the bounds. His companies are challenging convention and even reality. And that's what America needs more of now than ever. Not the defeatist mentality this article spouts.
We cannot be afraid to fail.
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