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> I find the unbridled optimism just unfathomable. Agreed. This is due to fawning "enthusiast" type reporters with little understanding of the technical issue
by ThenAsNow 10y ago
> I find the unbridled optimism just unfathomable.
Agreed. This is due to fawning "enthusiast" type reporters with little understanding of the technical issues or the history. But then, which field is free of this phenomenon when reported by non-specialist press? Even specialist press (e.g., Aviation Week) tends to be overly credulous. The big publications that captured my imagination growing up, like Popular Mechanics and Popular Science, are really not any better.
The people with the longest head start and most interesting technology are the Aerion crowd, and they have been gestating for years without a lot of hardware to show for it. Boom, Spike, and others are receiving too little skepticism, IMO.
- ghaff 10y agoFurthermore, as with high-speed rail but to an even greater degree, there are a lot of people who are enthusiastic about the idea but wouldn't actually be customers. If you don't routinely fly first/business class between New York and London today, you wouldn't fly a supersonic plane if one were available.
- chx 10y agoYou do not even need to be aware of the nitty-gritty details, it's enough to look at any jet program costs. Heck, even the Russians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Superjet_100 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Superjet_100 couldn't build a regional jet below 1.5B.