If there's enough public will to make something great happen, and that something-great is within the realm of engineering feasibility, then it will happen. I l

If there's enough public will to make something great happen, and that something-great is within the realm of engineering feasibility, then it will happen. I love HSR. But I also think we as a species are capable of much, much, much more than we're currently accomplishing. And much of the reason we're stuck using slow, uninspiring, and polluting technology from yester-year is a lack of public will. So to the naysayers: if you want to harp on some bold proposal to do something great, pretend it's 1961 and someone told you about sending men to the moon and back. Pretend it was 1948 and someone proposed making trains that went 90 mph. Pretend it was 1850 and someone proposed linking Paddington and Farringdon using a massive tunnel buried deep underground. Real things change all the time. Technology can make problems go away. Bold proposals such as Musk's -- proposals that are the good-faith effort of someone who is ultra-competent and with a lot of social and financial capital -- are proposals that need to be celebrated and encouraged. Doing new things well is orders of magnitude more difficult than doing that which has been done before. If you've never followed-through on a crazy and bold idea, please temper your critique of those who have.