Tired of food that would make a T.V. dinner maker blush? Sick of having your luggage ‘lost’ every time you need to travel over long distances? Not really into people in security uniforms? Don’t have the time to drive? There is hope on the horizon! Way, way, off on the horizon. No, seriously, its right there. There. Right. There. Don’t feel bad if you could only see a blur, that is Sort of the point.
Hyperloop, the Flash of the land-based transportation world, travels so ‘hair messingly’ fast that it can barely be seen, some sort of slow-motion camera being needed to see the thing while it is traveling. While around as a concept for many years, the design enjoyed a Renaissance with the turn of the century, revised and improved designs being introduced in 2012 by Elon Musk, or The Final Hope for the Human Race to use his official title.
How the hyperloop works
Possible for use as both passenger and freight transportation, the design consists of a pod shaped module launched through a clear, elevated, vacuumized glass tube at speeds similar to a regular speed airplane, zooming from one station to another, usually through flat, open land. Imagine an above ground, fancy looking subway on steroids.
Stuck in a loop
Innovation, as with most major social forces, has its own set of mythologies and half-truths surrounding it. Among these are the assumptions and firm beliefs that Innovation is all about neat, beeping, glowing little gizmos and widgets. Technically speaking, the piping in buildings was an innovation. Another assumption widely held is that innovation happens rather quickly.
Before the full thrust of the ‘Information Age’ however innovation took a very long time indeed. From the first experiments in the 1840s to the first commercially available models in the 1920s, it took roughly seventy years for there to be a usable model of a car. Even then they were viewed with general suspicion and had an irritating habit of breaking down. Many also seem to take for granted the idea that ‘innovation’ is inherently a positive thing, apparently unaware of the great innovations made in terms of poisons, germ war-fare and rocket propelled grenades.
A weaponized nuclear device that can fit into a backpack is undoubtedly a major innovation, as well as one that potentially threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians. The other assumption that seems to be made is that those who make innovations are, intelligent, organized people with a general and basic respect for each other outside professional competition. While intelligence is an obvious matter of course, the last two are a bit more debatable. A recent case in point being the perplexity surrounding when the much hyped Hyperloop lines might actually go into operation. Several of the interested parties making announcements on the same day, which was either a massive quagmire or some sort of Dadaist prank.
Final thoughts
Basically, when one will be able to zip across the country-side depends on who one asks and, more importantly believes. The companies with the strongest evidence of being able to actually take passengers before the third decade of the Millenium are Hyperloop One whom, in addition to having built a track have actually tested proto-types on it and MIT Hyperloop who literally have some of the best designers, programmers and engineers in the world working on the project.
