[extropy-chat] Communication vs transportation

[Charlie Stross]

On 2 Dec 2003, at 18:20, <kevinfreels at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
>

Personally, I'd like *slower* intercontinental flights. Jet lag leaves 
me feeling washed out for days, and the cramped cabin conditions are 
distinctly unpleasant. I'd be more than happy to travel by airship at, 
say, 200-300km/h instead of by jet at 800-1000km/h, as long as the 
cubic volume available to passengers was comparable to that on a 
sea-going ship. And if there's one thing airships aren't short on, it's 
cubic volume! Standard class on the Hindenberg included a berth in a 
two-bunk stateroom and access to the lounge and promenade decks. Give 
me bandwidth, a lounge to sit in with a laptop, and a comfortable bed, 
and I'd be a lot happier to take 48 hours to cross the Atlantic 
(getting work done en route and shifting my sleep pattern at a natural 
rate) than spending 7 hours in cattle class (unable to work and feeling 
like crap at the other end of the journey).

(NB: This isn't to say that I wouldn't prefer to travel by sub-orbital 
hop and get wherever I'm going in mere minutes, but as a comparison to 
today's subsonic jet travel an airship has its merits.)


-- Charlie