4 ms·

Competition will certainly deliver greater speed. I wonder about a couple things. 1) How do you define what is a mech? Would a mech with something that rolls a

Competition will certainly deliver greater speed. I wonder about a couple things. 1) How do you define what is a mech? Would a mech with something that rolls along the ground qualify? It seems like that's the quickest/easiest way to gain speed. 2) How can you protect the fans? A search of "monster truck kills spectators" finds a lot of incidents. I didn;t count. I suppose appropriate rules could solve either of these, hopefully w/out bloodshed.

solardev 4y ago
Nothing wrong with that they built. Seems like it'd be a cool thing to bring to Burning Man. It just wouldn't quite qualify as what I'd consider a "sport"... it's not much fun to watch this thing lumbering around like a dying crustacean.
- tanseydavid 4y ago
  NASCAR manages to pull in spectators though.
  - solardev 4y ago
    Now, if they combined the two... had this thing chasing itty-bitty cars around a closed track, eating whatever it catches... THAT, I'd pay money to watch.
    - sandworm101 4y ago
      Been done. Truckasaurus was essentially a mech atop a truck chassis and could pick up cars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1KsTWegnOs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1KsTWegnOs
      - Maursault 4y ago
        Truckasaurus feels very badly about what happened.[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP3mhnDlIkM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP3mhnDlIkM
      - solardev 4y ago
        Why can't every race be like this? NASCAR, Tour de France, the Olympics... the sports world just generally needs more fire-breathing mechs.
- iancmceachern 4y ago
  There is a YouTube video from megaprojects about how mechs are actually pretty bad war machines. I suspect it's similar for sports. A wheeled, tracked, or flying vehicle of similar size, weight and cost is always superior. It's just a fundamentally inefficient way to go about building and locomoting a machine.
  - Aeolun 4y ago
    > It's just a fundamentally inefficient way to go about building and locomoting a machine. Since humans are built the way they are, this can’t actually be true right?
    - jamiek88 4y ago
      Of course it can be true. It’s basically impossible for nature to evolve wheeled locomotion, and we aren’t machines. Are you suggesting we are optimal? We aren’t even very efficient or physically fast or powerful for an evolved natural being never mind a machine. If we didn’t have the brains we have we’d be just another ape. A weak one at that. That’s just one example. Ain’t no birds going Mach 4.
      - richk449 4y ago
        > It’s basically impossible for nature to evolve wheeled locomotion, and we aren’t machines. Perhaps true. As a fun side note, Phillip Pullman imagines a way in the His Dark Materials series.
        senkora 4y ago
        Here’s my favorite illustration of the Mulefa (creature in question) for context: https://twitter.com/Sherowkey/status/316271383019659264 https://twitter.com/Sherowkey/status/316271383019659264
      - Aeolun 4y ago
        > Are you suggesting we are optimal? I’m suggesting we are extremely adaptive. We’re not fantastic at anything, but we can do basically everything.

solardev 4y ago

Nothing wrong with that they built. Seems like it'd be a cool thing to bring to Burning Man. It just wouldn't quite qualify as what I'd consider a "sport"... it's not much fun to watch this thing lumbering around like a dying crustacean.

tanseydavid 4y ago
NASCAR manages to pull in spectators though.
- solardev 4y ago
  Now, if they combined the two... had this thing chasing itty-bitty cars around a closed track, eating whatever it catches... THAT, I'd pay money to watch.
  - sandworm101 4y ago
    Been done. Truckasaurus was essentially a mech atop a truck chassis and could pick up cars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1KsTWegnOs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1KsTWegnOs
    - Maursault 4y ago
      Truckasaurus feels very badly about what happened.[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP3mhnDlIkM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP3mhnDlIkM
    - solardev 4y ago
      Why can't every race be like this? NASCAR, Tour de France, the Olympics... the sports world just generally needs more fire-breathing mechs.
iancmceachern 4y ago
There is a YouTube video from megaprojects about how mechs are actually pretty bad war machines. I suspect it's similar for sports. A wheeled, tracked, or flying vehicle of similar size, weight and cost is always superior. It's just a fundamentally inefficient way to go about building and locomoting a machine.
- Aeolun 4y ago
  > It's just a fundamentally inefficient way to go about building and locomoting a machine. Since humans are built the way they are, this can’t actually be true right?
  - jamiek88 4y ago
    Of course it can be true. It’s basically impossible for nature to evolve wheeled locomotion, and we aren’t machines. Are you suggesting we are optimal? We aren’t even very efficient or physically fast or powerful for an evolved natural being never mind a machine. If we didn’t have the brains we have we’d be just another ape. A weak one at that. That’s just one example. Ain’t no birds going Mach 4.
    - richk449 4y ago
      > It’s basically impossible for nature to evolve wheeled locomotion, and we aren’t machines. Perhaps true. As a fun side note, Phillip Pullman imagines a way in the His Dark Materials series.
      - senkora 4y ago
        Here’s my favorite illustration of the Mulefa (creature in question) for context: https://twitter.com/Sherowkey/status/316271383019659264 https://twitter.com/Sherowkey/status/316271383019659264
    - Aeolun 4y ago
      > Are you suggesting we are optimal? I’m suggesting we are extremely adaptive. We’re not fantastic at anything, but we can do basically everything.