[extropy-chat] Communication vs transportation

Tue Dec 2 18:20:43 UTC 2003

I think that this has occurred simply because the masses have decided that
what we have is good enough. The market has stabilized and the cost-benefit
is about equal. The airlines already struggle with making profits because of
this. If they raise the price of tickets, more people choose to drive to
their destination. Faster flights and more exclusive, dedicated service to
streamline the waiting would only increase the cost which most people are
simply not willing to pay.
This doesn;t mean that the technology hasn't improved however. If you look
at the last 50 years (1953 to today) there are many breakthroughs fololowing
Yeager's 1947 mach 1 flight in a single-man rocket with wings. Concorde
travels at 1350 mph, SR-71 travels at mach 3.3. We went to the moon in 1969
(speeds averaging 25,000 mph). Aurora (if it exists) is supposed to cruise
between mach 5 and mach 8. Nasa's X-43 HyperX is supposed to travel between
mach 7 and mach 10. The shuttle re-enters about mach 23 (i think)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Lee" <brian_a_lee at hotmail.com>
To: <hemm at br.inter.net>; <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 12:22 PM
Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Communication vs transportation


> I've thought a bit on this lately and am a little let down with the pace
of
> transportation. If you look at air travel over the last 50 years there are
> few major breakthroughs. 75 years ago, it took weeks to travel around the
> world and then with commercial air travel, that was cut down to a day or
> merely hours. 50 years later, we're still pretty much at the same flight
> times. We have more routes and scheduled and tvs in the seats but flights
> are still about the same length. Perhaps they are even longer if you take
> security waits into the equation.
>
> I think the main reason why air travel tech has stalled is lack of
> competition. There's really only two companies making planes-Airbus and
> Boeing- and both are heavily subsidized by their respective governments.
Air
> travel is subsidized by local governments and businesses who don't have
much
> incentive to decrease travel time.
>
> For ground travel, in the US at least, road trips take less time because
the
> speed limit has been increased from 55 to 70-75 on interstates. It's nice
to
> be save 2 hours from an Atlanta to Miami trip, but I'm still waiting for
15
> minute NY-London trips and flying cars.
>
> How long until the science fiction breakthroughs come on line?
Transporters,
> etc.
>
> I've done a bit of teleconferencing and videoconferencing and while it is
> sufficient for basic communication, it's not yet replacing meatspace.
>
> BAL
> >From: "Henrique Moraes Machado" <hemm at br.inter.net>
> >To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> >Subject: [extropy-chat] Communication vs transportation
> >Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 13:57:22 -0200
> >
> >Hello extropians,
> >
> >I've been reflecting lately on communication versus transportation. The
> >first is developing faster than ever, while the former seems to be
stalled.
> >Is it related? Are we concentrating our resourses in evolving our
> >communication means because our transportation means are poor, or does de
> >current pace of developments on comms in fact causes less effort on
> >advancing transportation? Just thinking. Sorry for the bad english, but
> >it's not my native language and I am still learning.
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