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Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, I read analyses like this article and just think "this person doesn't realize that they don't think/act like most people".

Most people flying are not traveling alone. It's not just the oft quoted "families with small children". What about couples/friends/colleagues. People traveling together largely sit in the same rows, not the same columns, and they want to exit together.

These kind of analyses (especially the "if everyone saved 13 seconds we'd size the equivalent of 20 lives!" part) always make me a bit said because, in a lot of cases, it's clear the author understands math but not humans.

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The author has definitely thought about those concerns, since they're mentioned on the linked page. I think it's just a neat simulation, it's not necessarily a comment on someone's ability to empathize with other human beings.

The author thought about those concerns, but somehow doesn't think they're a big deal, as opposed to making the entire thing completely infeasible.

Another commenter put it brilliantly: "My perpetual motion machine works brilliantly, just have that 'unresolved issue' of the second law of thermodynamics".

I've considered the "group" issue at length and do not consider it a major issue. People like us are obligated to improve the world for the less enlightened.

In a world where we can’t convince people to wash their hands (among other more controversial public health asks that shall remain nameless to prevent ideological thread derailment) I don’t think we can convince people to not descend into chaos when asked to do something like this. It’s a great idea for efficient pipelining, but humans view the emptying of each row in order as more fair and common sense. It doesn’t require coordination beyond the people within rows and is resilient to people bucking the protocol.

I wonder how rapidly this column wise deplaning breaks down in the face of random compliance and confusion.

I guess families with young kids that would have to leave the kid in the window aisle, distressed and upset while the only people they know are leaving them in a vessel with people they don't know, are just not "enlightened" enough.

I implore you to consider the group issue in more detail, and perhaps with a touch of human empathy this time.

You're allowed to wait for later flushes, and to trade your position for a nearby neighbor's! Families would be absolutely fine in this system.

> People like us are obligated to improve the world for the less enlightened.

This really says everything you need to know about this "analysis".

The notion of 3 travelers on window, center, and aisle being OK to wait through FIVE flushes (aisle, opposite aisle, center, opposite center, window) to reconnect -- and the notion this is "enlightened" -- I can't.

The notion that ALL sets of 2+ travelers now have to wait at the end of the gangway just inside the terminal, the disaster that would create at the gate, is just kicking the can off the plane in a way that doesn't actually help the next passengers get on any sooner. The gate -- and all gates -- would be a disaster.

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