4 ms·

First, the size of the country matters quite a lot. Second, the US has an amazing transportation infrastructure, the rail portion just happens to be used to tr

First, the size of the country matters quite a lot. Second, the US has an amazing transportation infrastructure, the rail portion just happens to be used to transport cargo and not people. The optimization is different.

fennecfoxen 11y ago
This. American freight rail is the marvel of the developed world and the envy of Europe: one of the reasons that recent(ish) government proposals for high-speed passenger rail were dangerous. Ask the Brits: http://www.economist.com/node/16636101 http://www.economist.com/node/16636101 You just don't get to see freight rail in action much unless you're a good bit more blue-collar than the typical HN crowd.
- saiya-jin 11y ago
  envy of Europe? hat's a bit far-fetched, care to give more details? if you mean by any chance super long trains spanning over kilometer, we have those too
theoh 11y ago
There's a cultural difference too, for example in the terms of Hofstede's theory, Switzerland scores highly on pragmatism: http://geert-hofstede.com/switzerland.html http://geert-hofstede.com/switzerland.html
- protomyth 11y ago
  I'm having a bit of trouble thinking that having an amazing freight system in a country as big and with the diversity of production as the US isn't the definition of pragmatism.
  - theoh 11y ago
    Well, Hofstede's pragmatism dimension is something specific. Sometimes he calls it "Long Term Orientation". It was original identified as a dimension on which East Asian countries strongly differed from the west, and one of the first studies referred to it as "Confucian Work Dynamism". So, if you prefer to think of it as Confucian Work Dynamism, it's no longer tied to the name of a quality the US would naturally consider itself as having. Hofstede's project is a bit naively empirical and prone to generalizations, but he's trying to talk about something real. "the long-term pole corresponds to Bond’s Confucian Work Dynamism. Values found at this pole were perseverance, thrift, ordering relationships by status, and having a sense of shame; values at the opposite, short term pole were reciprocating social obligations, respect for tradition, protecting one's 'face', and personal steadiness and stability" from http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=orpc http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=101...

fennecfoxen 11y ago

This. American freight rail is the marvel of the developed world and the envy of Europe: one of the reasons that recent(ish) government proposals for high-speed passenger rail were dangerous. Ask the Brits: http://www.economist.com/node/16636101 http://www.economist.com/node/16636101 You just don't get to see freight rail in action much unless you're a good bit more blue-collar than the typical HN crowd.

saiya-jin 11y ago
envy of Europe? hat's a bit far-fetched, care to give more details? if you mean by any chance super long trains spanning over kilometer, we have those too

theoh 11y ago

There's a cultural difference too, for example in the terms of Hofstede's theory, Switzerland scores highly on pragmatism: http://geert-hofstede.com/switzerland.html http://geert-hofstede.com/switzerland.html

protomyth 11y ago
I'm having a bit of trouble thinking that having an amazing freight system in a country as big and with the diversity of production as the US isn't the definition of pragmatism.
- theoh 11y ago
  Well, Hofstede's pragmatism dimension is something specific. Sometimes he calls it "Long Term Orientation". It was original identified as a dimension on which East Asian countries strongly differed from the west, and one of the first studies referred to it as "Confucian Work Dynamism". So, if you prefer to think of it as Confucian Work Dynamism, it's no longer tied to the name of a quality the US would naturally consider itself as having. Hofstede's project is a bit naively empirical and prone to generalizations, but he's trying to talk about something real. "the long-term pole corresponds to Bond’s Confucian Work Dynamism. Values found at this pole were perseverance, thrift, ordering relationships by status, and having a sense of shame; values at the opposite, short term pole were reciprocating social obligations, respect for tradition, protecting one's 'face', and personal steadiness and stability" from http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=orpc http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=101...