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In times like these, just after failure is recognized, the skeptics that have been arguing all these points and more for years should be given some recognition.

In times like these, just after failure is recognized, the skeptics that have been arguing all these points and more for years should be given some recognition. The libertarians, for example, correctly claimed these points ahead of time because that's how human nature within a bureaucracy works. Instead of realizing the core of the problem, which is incompatibility of the train with American society and governance, articles like this blame a poorly designed route, not getting help from the Chinese, or another banality.

woah 8y ago
If that’s how human nature works, then why do so many other countries have high speed rail?
- rayiner 8y ago
  Culture can control for human nature. Have you ever been to Japan? I was in Ginza a few months ago. In places they have crosswalks for pedestrians every few blocks instead of very block. People will dutifully walk down the street, cross, and walk back up the street. Nobody jaywalks, including small children. Can you imagine that happening in New York or San Francisco? It’s not surprising they can build magnificent infrastructure. In Japan even the corruption—and there is probably more there than here—operates within a structured system of social norms. The US has many strengths. I’m not sure restraint and political discipline is one of them.
  - yostrovs 8y ago
    People and countries are different. They spend money on high speed rail and therefore don't spend money on something else. That something else can be a billion different things. I don't miss high speed rail, but I do like owning a car much larger than a Japanese person with my income can afford. I can also fill it up and go anywhere I want to go whenever I want to go there, without regard for train schedules, train seating availability, train passengers that like to eat curry on the train, train passengers that talk a lot, etc... I'm not sure simply comparing countries on whether they have high speed trains or not really answers anything at all. I think the only thing I can kind of gather is that the Japanese like high speed trains and American are ambivalent to them.
- yostrovs 8y ago
  I was referring to American culture, not human culture in general. North Korea, for example, has the largest sport stadium and their human displays at that stadium are hundreds of years ahead of American ones. But that's North Korea and the culture that is there. You can have fantastic stadium displays, but building a road and a car to go onto it is impossible.

woah 8y ago

If that’s how human nature works, then why do so many other countries have high speed rail?

rayiner 8y ago
Culture can control for human nature. Have you ever been to Japan? I was in Ginza a few months ago. In places they have crosswalks for pedestrians every few blocks instead of very block. People will dutifully walk down the street, cross, and walk back up the street. Nobody jaywalks, including small children. Can you imagine that happening in New York or San Francisco? It’s not surprising they can build magnificent infrastructure. In Japan even the corruption—and there is probably more there than here—operates within a structured system of social norms. The US has many strengths. I’m not sure restraint and political discipline is one of them.
- yostrovs 8y ago
  People and countries are different. They spend money on high speed rail and therefore don't spend money on something else. That something else can be a billion different things. I don't miss high speed rail, but I do like owning a car much larger than a Japanese person with my income can afford. I can also fill it up and go anywhere I want to go whenever I want to go there, without regard for train schedules, train seating availability, train passengers that like to eat curry on the train, train passengers that talk a lot, etc... I'm not sure simply comparing countries on whether they have high speed trains or not really answers anything at all. I think the only thing I can kind of gather is that the Japanese like high speed trains and American are ambivalent to them.
yostrovs 8y ago
I was referring to American culture, not human culture in general. North Korea, for example, has the largest sport stadium and their human displays at that stadium are hundreds of years ahead of American ones. But that's North Korea and the culture that is there. You can have fantastic stadium displays, but building a road and a car to go onto it is impossible.