> the market for automobiles was tiny before the automated production of the Model T I think that's a false analogy. Automobiles are a lower-latency, cheaper t

> the market for automobiles was tiny before the automated production of the Model T I think that's a false analogy. Automobiles are a lower-latency, cheaper to operate, cleaner, faster substitute for the horse and cart, which many people already had and many more desired. There was a big market and it had high price elasticity of demand. The analogy here would be for hypersonic point-to-point travel over large distances on the Earth. It's not at all clear how big or elastic the latent demand for that would be. It is clear that dumping a lot of water vapor in the stratosphere would have climatic consequences.