The Hyperloop: BUSTED!

I don't know why they're doing this, except out of pure tech-broism. It's obviously not financially viable. Let's say it realistically costs $150 million a mile for the project (about average for tunnel boring - it'll actually be a lot more on the east coast due to it being solid rock and expensive labor, but let's be realistically optimistic). At 250 miles, that's $37.5 Billion right there. Let's be ridiculously generous and finance this over 50 years. Over 50 years, that's $750 million/year. Or, $2million/day. At $60/ticket, you need 34k daily riders. And that's only for building the tunnel. I haven't even factored in operating or finance costs, nevermind the millions of other expenses that this needs. Stations are normally the most expensive part of a system, for example, and a station in NYC might cost $1 billion by itself. Is this going to get 34,000 daily riders paying $60/ticket to NYC? I can see that happening with $10/ticket, but not at $60/ticket. For comparison, the entire DC Metro system itself has about 800k daily riders with about $5/trip. And then you have the stupid HyperLoop concept itself, which hasn't even been invented yet. It's based on small single-car vehicles, which may carry a couple dozen people at most. Already you can see capacity issues: To get 34,000 people a day 24-7, you need 1400 fully-packed rides a day, or one every 6 seconds. You're not going to get single-vehicles to share a track every six seconds. You're already capacity limited. How do

A lot of his ideas are full of holes: Hyperloop: See all of the problems here: [this video] Boring company: summary of issues here: [link] SpaceX: How will we fund the amount of rocket fuel required to get the stuff to Mars that can produce an atmosphere? If producing an atmosphere isn't required, then how will indoor atmosphere be maintained sustainably (financially)? Matt Damon's math didn't seem to work out in that movie... Tesla: So far so good, but what about battery recycling? “We are at the very beginning in energy storage in general,” says Phil Hermann, chief energy engineer at Panasonic Eco Solutions. “Most of the projects currently going on are either demo projects or learning experiences for the utilities. There is very little direct commercial stuff going on. “Elon Musk is out there saying you can do things now that the rest of us are hearing and going, ‘really?’ We wish we could but it’s not really possible yet.” [link] SolarCity: Just look at the customer reviews so far: [link] I would urge Mr Musk to focus on Batteries & long-term Tesla ownership. It would be a shame for that not to work out! I hope this comment lasts for 5 years :)

Elon wields a powerful influence, a cult following. Fault is a fuzzy concept, not restricted to binary blame. Combine the poor taste of Elon fucking around with a monetary instrument, and his cult risking their life savings on his every word, and grave losses are the result. People commit suicide all the time because of large investment losses. Don't be too quick to doubt the monetary and biological loss in the US and abroad his statements likely caused. Your argument hinges on Elon not being the "hand that pulls the trigger." It's really irrelevant as everyone on HN is intelligent enough to understand that Elon is responsible for his reckless persuasions of a populace that is on average, stupid. Yes, the average person is... stupid. Especially ones who worship this man. Here is just a fraction of Elon's record: [1] Pedo Tweet: [link] [2] Hyperloop Scam: [this video] [3] Boring Tunnel Scam: [link] [4] Autopilot Scam (11 confirmed deaths - should be called Enhanced Cruise Control instead): [link] [5] Founder of PayPal, a platform that has been freezing and stealing user's funds since 1998: [link] [6] Not even the founder of Tesla. He was an investor (using his grifted Paypal money - how many frozen accounts did it take?): [link] [6] Anti-union: [link] [7] Does not care for wellbeing of employees: [link] Elon is not Tony Stark or Iron Man. He is not a hero. He is not a villain. He is a highly intelligent man with many blind spots and a penchant for rash, poorly judged decisions. For