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Comment by sailfast | Hacker News Reader

Reading the McCullough biography of the Wright Brothers, I found myself wondering "what if they had read the Hacker News comments for flight?" The answer I found was that they were completely unperturbed by such trivialities, and that was a major part in their success. I'm happy to see somebody's testing out the concept and look forward to continued progress in the areas of transportation.

I will say that the end of the article makes quite the proclamation regarding Hyperloop, with a big "If" but I think measured positivity is certainly warranted here.

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https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863

Point taken - and I appreciated it a great deal when they decided to make ShowHN official and suggest rules that would support the OP.

The Wright Brothers were also just trying to fly. They weren't trying to compete against well-established technology (such as trains that have already been built).

The Wright Brothers also weren't asking for $5 Billion+ for a test flight. They mostly self-funded IIRC.

The Wright Brothers also weren't asking for $5 Billion+ for a test flight. They mostly self-funded IIRC.

Every human endeavour until incredibly recently in our timeline was a self-cost, whether it be in health, time or wealth. Only in the last blink of an eye have we expected a Govt or Govt funded entity to do it for us. And it's clear they can't.

Personally I couldn't be happier that someone is trying something new. It might not be a success, but it might lead to an innovative new industrial process, or way of constructing something, or it might work.

Who cares if it costs $5billion if we can progress from it and someone will fund it? What else is that money going to do? Sit in a hedge fund? Get invested in a WhatsApp clone? What does that do for us as a society and a species?

> Every human endeavour until incredibly recently in our timeline was a self-cost, whether it be in health, time or wealth. Only in the last blink of an eye have we expected a Govt or Govt funded entity to do it for us. And it's clear they can't.

Absolutely not. Governments have been funding innovation since the dawn of time, nearly every royal court hired scientists in some capacity. Many developments in navigation and transportation were funded by governments looking to improve their armies. Its not like a the average scientist could have afforded to make their own train engine, or a large sailing vessel to test their new technologies.

> Who cares if it costs $5billion if we can progress from it and someone will fund it?

Hey, if it isn't coming from taxpayer money, I don't care.

But this whole California High-speed rail vs Hyperloop thing? That's a publicly funded project, slated to be funded by California bonds and California debt. I say California should buy the proven system, while the private sector can go play with their own innovative products until they can at least demonstrate a working prototype.

There's no reason for California to fund the hyperloop project... not yet anyway.

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