this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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It's time to be honest about Musk's vacuum tube to nowhere

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[–] [email protected] 117 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I have to admit I was kind of impressed seeing the way two scams worked together: the Hyperloop, and the Loop. People genuinely thought they were related projects because of the name and, I guess, the tunnels. So the Hyperloop made the Loop sound more exciting than it really was, and the Loop made it seem like there was progress towards the Hyperloop.

Of course, in reality, the Loop is just a shitty cab tunnel designed to financially and physically block local mass transit projects, while the Hyperloop is just bullshit vaporware designed to financially and politically block intercity mass transit projects.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Even though I thought the tunnel thing and the train thing were both either vaporware or useless, I have to admit that this fooled me, I am one of your people who thought they were related

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

I’m so dumb that even after I read their comment, I still thought they were related until your admission made me reread their comment.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As a Vegas dweller, I'm particularly pissed at this whole thing because we're CONSTANTLY hearing "Well there's lots of subterranean caves and stuff, so a subway or underground structures (away from the scorching heat) would be unfeasible."

...but here we are with a stupid freaking Tesla-pipe that could have had rail cars...

Clearly the city planning here is just one big investor rug-pull on the residents. After this "Loop", "The Sphere" and their compulsive need to put like 5 more mega stadiums in the middle of the city in the middle of the desert.

And all working-class residents get out of all this is clogged freeways and $300 nosebleed tickets from Ticketmaster.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

Yeah. I also thought that the tunnels were too small for a subway (because one of The Boring Company's "innovations" is to drive costs down by digging smaller, shittier, and more dangerous tunnels using existing technology). However, there are subways in London that have even slightly smaller tunnels. You could absolutely lay down some tracks in there and have a functional subway. Giving it to Tesla to run a taxi lane for who knows how long was just a choice.

Also, from what I found out, the Loop is going to continue to fuck over the residents, because the expansions are going to have WAY higher fares. I think right now, the Loop is $4.50 for a day pass. As a point of comparison, a New York subway ticket is $2.90, so one round trip would be more expensive than a day pass. That makes the Loop sound great! ...until you realize the prices are kept artificially low to make it seem that way. Future plans for Loop service would cost upwards of $12 a ride outside of the convention center and resorts.

Also, as an aside, something I don't think gets brought up enough is that the Loop proves that Tesla's self-driving cars are a scam. Even on a close course, indoors, built to whatever specs Tesla could possibly want, the cars need human drivers.

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[–] [email protected] 94 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Don't forget the "Hyperloop" in Las Vegas, which is just a tunnel where Teslas are driving people around. IMO that's the stupidest and the least efficient use of this tunnel.

The cars are not even self-driving, and mind you this is a closed system and easier to implement self-driving. So far with his self-driving copium, and robo taxis bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 11 months ago

That's more about Elon hating mass public transportation. Probably because it involves being close to poor people.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

Don't forget the "Hyperloop" in Las Vegas, which is just a tunnel where Teslas are driving people around.

Isn't that The Loop, not a Hyperloop?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago

whatever it is, its a human barbecue waiting to happen with how tight and coffinlike the tunnel is from what i've seen of videos.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

this is a closed system and easier to implement self-driving

Lol, they tried and it didn't work well, even in a closed system. There was a whistleblower among the drivers a while ago. They were officially in the cars just to keep an eye of things but in reality they had to take over constantly, and they all had contracts that tried to keep them from talking about it. Oh yeah and they got scripts they had to follow if passengers asked questions about Musk or the project. 😄

Edit: here's some articles:

https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/28/read-the-script-every-driver-for-elon-musks-las-vegas-loop-must-learn/

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tunnels-boring-company-tesla-drivers-las-vegas-techcrunch-2021-7?op=1

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 11 months ago (25 children)

Hyoerloop is not a scam just because The con man proposed it with the intent of stopping a high speed rail road project.

It's a scam also because:

  • the idea is not his. It's 100 years old and has been tackled by other before him.
  • it's impossible to be build from the technical point of view.
  • even if you do manage to miraculously built it it won't be economically feasible.
  • in the lasts years it's starting to be obvious that if it's backed by Musk it's a scam in some degree, shape or form. (see also Solar Cities, Tesla, The Loop and the Boring company, etc.)
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[–] [email protected] 56 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The moment he proposed it, but was not interested in implementing it and let others use that idea, was a clear sign that he himself didn't believe in it.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

During the peak of his fame I always thought this was a money laundering scheme from Musk. Only recently I've learned about the (not so much) theory that it was all an effort to screw with high speed train.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 11 months ago

Going to run a turbofan in a vacuum chamber for propulsion and use air bearings to float on the surface. Like any of it ever made sense from day one. Fever dreams of an idiot.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (5 children)

I fully believe the accusations that Musk only proposed the Hyperloop to derail the California High Speed Rail project because an actual high speed rail service poses a serious threat to his car sales. The entire point was to overpromise and deliver absolutely nothing while sucking funds away from projects that actually stand a chance of replacing cars.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yes. Adam something pointed this out two years ago: https://youtu.be/CQJgFh_e01g

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I remember when thunderf00t dunked on this idiocy like, 10 years ago or something.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago

The hyperloop was my wake up call that he wasn't a good person, it felt like every reporter became dumb overnight to buy what he was saying.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago

Musk is a scam artist, founder my fucking ass

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Plain old subway does the job better, cheaper, and faster.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

My imaginary train is even faster.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Literally a snail is faster by virtue of actually existing.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you are ever in LA, you should take a drive around SpaceX campus and see the "Hyperloop prototype" they built outside(don't get out of the car, Hawthorne is a run down industrial zone and not the safest place)

There is nothing that shatters the illusion of Musk's genius faster than seeing that sad, short gas pipeline looking thing on an run down street next to their overflowing employee garage.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Street view link?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago

In other news, water was always fucking wet. World shocked.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The underlying idea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vactrain has been tried many times, but its simply too expensive and fragile for real-world use. A single earthquake can cripple it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Important to say, tried many times AFTER being conceived over 100 years ago.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (2 children)

i mean news flash and shit, but you can't make a good product at this point under capitalism. there isn't a single product on the market, in any category, that is not a scam. Enshittification won capitalism and the game is over.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

IDK man my toaster oven works pretty well

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I thought the initial scaled down tests showed it was a dumb idea from the start but the company ran for 5 years or more saying “we’re working on this idea that we’ve already proved is shit and won’t work.”

Now they’re telling us it doesn’t work

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thank you! This has not been said nearly enough.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It’s been said a lot. Since the first day it was proposed.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

And fell on deaf years until now. Way too many local admins splurged millions for "developing" this lunacy.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

The Simpsons did it first!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Thunderf00t

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