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I don't understand the comments about snake oil and the other vitriol. Why jump to conclusions about the author's motives instead of just taking it for what it

by lutorm 13y ago

I don't understand the comments about snake oil and the other vitriol. Why jump to conclusions about the author's motives instead of just taking it for what it plainly is: a draft idea put together in the spare time by Elon and a few SpaceX and Tesla engineers? He's not trying to get funding for it, so what's the motivation for trying to hide some fundamental flaw? It seems the article is more concerned about criticizing the details of the proposal rather than the idea.

dalke 13y ago
Because the only way to get the idea is through the details. If the details don't work, then how long should we pursue the idea? My idea is that we redevelop our city centers so they are more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. My idea is that we build a bridge (or a tunnel) across the Strait of Gibraltar. My idea is that we develop a fleet of ekranoplans for medium-speed cargo delivery. My idea is that we have nuclear bomb powered rockets so we can get from Earth to Mars in a single stage. All of these are great ideas. Abstractly. All of them have had people spend serious time developing the ideas. "What's the motivation for trying to hide some fundamental flaw?" Do you remember the Segway hype? Kamen said that it would be "will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy." ... "In the future he envisions, cars will be banished from urban centers to make room for millions of "empowered pedestrians"--empowered, naturally, by Kamen's brainchild." - http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,186660,00.html http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,186660,00.h... He really believed it, and he spent more than $100 million developing the Segway to make that idea happen. I bring this up to point out that you can believe in an idea so much that you overlook or brush over details, because your heart is pure and you have such noble dreams. Sadly, noble dreams don't have a high tensile strength.
mcguire 13y ago
"It seems the article is more concerned about criticizing the details of the proposal rather than the idea." Normally on HN, you'll find many people repeating a mantra, something about execution being more important than ideas. Ideas are cheap and easy. Actually making them work usually isn't. The thing about the hyperloop is that the proposal is the only thing anyone has to go on. Unfortunately, it has the same problems as many other proposals familiar to HN'ers, including excessive details in some areas while cheerfully breezing over important issues.

by lutorm 13y ago

dalke 13y ago

Because the only way to get the idea is through the details. If the details don't work, then how long should we pursue the idea? My idea is that we redevelop our city centers so they are more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. My idea is that we build a bridge (or a tunnel) across the Strait of Gibraltar. My idea is that we develop a fleet of ekranoplans for medium-speed cargo delivery. My idea is that we have nuclear bomb powered rockets so we can get from Earth to Mars in a single stage. All of these are great ideas. Abstractly. All of them have had people spend serious time developing the ideas. "What's the motivation for trying to hide some fundamental flaw?" Do you remember the Segway hype? Kamen said that it would be "will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy." ... "In the future he envisions, cars will be banished from urban centers to make room for millions of "empowered pedestrians"--empowered, naturally, by Kamen's brainchild." - http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,186660,00.html http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,186660,00.h... He really believed it, and he spent more than $100 million developing the Segway to make that idea happen. I bring this up to point out that you can believe in an idea so much that you overlook or brush over details, because your heart is pure and you have such noble dreams. Sadly, noble dreams don't have a high tensile strength.

mcguire 13y ago

"It seems the article is more concerned about criticizing the details of the proposal rather than the idea." Normally on HN, you'll find many people repeating a mantra, something about execution being more important than ideas. Ideas are cheap and easy. Actually making them work usually isn't. The thing about the hyperloop is that the proposal is the only thing anyone has to go on. Unfortunately, it has the same problems as many other proposals familiar to HN'ers, including excessive details in some areas while cheerfully breezing over important issues.