Post AmxqaDZJjsrnBgwOpM by robotistry@sciencemastodon.com
(DIR) More posts by robotistry@sciencemastodon.com
(DIR) Post #AmxbE5bhA2zGoO2kq0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-10-13T10:08:39Z
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There will not be roads that charge cars or vans, nor shall there be solar roads. The innovation of the road is that it's not that expensive per mile. The great benefit being the ability to connect less trafficked places to a network. If you are going to fill the road with copper coils or solar cells... well first you might as well use the solar cells to shade the road, and now you've just built an inferior tunnel. The induction coil idea is even worse, you could have rails more easily.
(DIR) Post #AmxbOoZuoVh9BRKDtA by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-10-13T10:10:36Z
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Moreover power generating and powered roads imply a level of investment in the PUBLIC transportation network that is at odds with the anti-public works ethos of most of these modern electric car projects. I feel silly even explaining this, but it's just not going to happen at all.
(DIR) Post #AmxbWKhplIuyqwc7vc by jwcph@helvede.net
2024-10-13T10:11:56Z
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@futurebird Why oh why does the tech world keep insisting on "inventing" massively inferior versions of things that already exist...?
(DIR) Post #AmxdVtshhAe3Z9cTz6 by rayhindle@mastodon.social
2024-10-13T10:34:15Z
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@futurebird I seem to remember a computer game where you could build a city that just used railways (railroads) rather than roads with motorcar traffic!
(DIR) Post #AmxeLUrZxPXF22hFrc by llewelly@sauropods.win
2024-10-13T10:43:37Z
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@futurebird don't mention rails that charge trains that run on them ... that's the third rail
(DIR) Post #AmxeZi33jRC1ylqMZU by glennsills@dotnet.social
2024-10-13T10:46:09Z
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These ideas were brought to you by the same people that brought you the hyperloop idea. Hyperloop, a train that is so expensive that only rich people can afford to ride it but must be financed with public money. (Of course, it's real purpose is to raise investments from people with more money than brains.)
(DIR) Post #AmxefegT9ZNPHZ725g by RogerBW@discordian.social
2024-10-13T10:47:13Z
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@futurebird "This road only for Volto brand cars" seems entirely in keeping with etc.
(DIR) Post #Amxi6WDP329AhL1B7w by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-10-13T11:25:43Z
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For the love of God... why is it so hard to just LEARN about the existing public transportation technology and look for ways to improve it? There is a lot of room for growth.I'm biased since one of the major reasons I live in NYC is because I like the public transportation. If it didn't exist I wouldn't even want to be here and I suspect the city wouldn't be such a "big deal" yet this counts for nothing and everyone treats public transportation like a "problem" to get rid of. Depressing.
(DIR) Post #AmxiIepKr5JYskY5ei by magicalthinking@noauthority.social
2024-10-13T11:27:59Z
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@futurebird In Boston our trains are broken at least a month of the year and you have to take a bus.
(DIR) Post #AmxiKFvSPO2GEPAsRU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-10-13T11:28:04Z
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How much value does public transportation add to real estate? How much does it benefit businesses? Yet the only reason the many efforts to dismantle and scale back the network have failed is the endless howling and screaming from the public that starts up every time they try. But... buddy these trains and busses made YOU rich. No one would want to live here or do anything here without it.
(DIR) Post #AmxiMTtnQYhi9DSV0q by tanepiper@tane.codes
2024-10-13T11:28:19Z
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@futurebird we were talking about it this morning - that these people have never had to interact daily with public transport, or public-private transport (e.g. taxis) - for the sake of their lives. They don't understand it.This is why to them every idea is new, even when it's just a worse version of the existing ideas
(DIR) Post #AmxiQ2upgzqbcQdwoK by carrideen@c18.masto.host
2024-10-13T11:29:14Z
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@futurebird It's really wild when you talk to people outside of cities about how great it is not to have to drive and getting to interact with neighbors, and they act like you said it's nice not to have to breathe and you get to interact with wild dogs.
(DIR) Post #AmxiVIu3g8voeQmvrc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-10-13T11:30:11Z
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You can get to nearly every corner of the city and you don't need a car. You don't need a car!It's HUGE. And totally taken for granted.
(DIR) Post #AmxjTIcdqtMJ9fFYBM by roytoo@mstdn.social
2024-10-13T11:41:00Z
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@futurebird Public transit in NYC is awesome and I wish it was better here (north of Dallas, Texas)We take it everywhere when we visit to get around quickly and inexpensively.
(DIR) Post #AmxjedMf4bHofgBDNI by fuknukl@noauthority.social
2024-10-13T11:43:09Z
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@magicalthinking @futurebird
(DIR) Post #Amxk1bRsMXZbODZUCe by Ailbhe@mendeddrum.org
2024-10-13T11:47:12Z
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@futurebird here's a little Dublin public transport homage to cheer you up https://mastodon.ie/@dublininquirer/113299833486917238
(DIR) Post #AmxkIiUjQ1HkAK4FSS by zdl@mastodon.online
2024-10-13T11:50:18Z
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@futurebird In Wuhan, as the metro system was developed, which I watched from its inception onward, I saw an interesting phenomenon.Metro line 1 was an elevated rail system that was useless. It started off where nobody was, ended off where nobody was, and travelled through neighbourhoods nobody gave a damn about. And, most critically, it didn't do the one critical thing such a program had to do: it didn't cross a single river: neither the Han nor the Changjiang.🧵 ▶️
(DIR) Post #Amxkjk0BvEhoewfWXg by zdl@mastodon.online
2024-10-13T11:52:58Z
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@futurebird For several years that's how it stood. The elevated rail was a white elephant. Very few people used it. (On various trial runs on it over those years, I never saw more than 20 people. Not per car. TOTAL for the whole train!)Then Line 2 started. This was a subway that did several important things:1. It crossed the Changjiang. That was critical for its (foreshadowing!) success.2. It ran through places people actually cared about.3. It was built relatively quickly.🧵 ▶️
(DIR) Post #Amxkjl9ReJhaDw0QbY by zdl@mastodon.online
2024-10-13T11:54:49Z
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@futurebird When I say "relatively quickly" I mean relative to line 1. It was way over budget in time and money because of the engineering challenges of tunnelling under the Changjiang. (They actually dug a road tunnel under it first to learn the techniques so that the subway could be built better and more quickly.) But disruptive as the process was, there was a sense of excitement in the air in Wuhan. We'd arrived. We had a subway in the works. We were a modern city!🧵 ▶️
(DIR) Post #AmxpQ9NoLWr5M9C7Zw by vwampage@xoxo.zone
2024-10-13T12:47:40Z
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@futurebird Yes yes the MTA is the beating heart of the city, without it the whole place would grind to a halt and we should celebrate this achievement.
(DIR) Post #AmxqEiZvlSJOzZyZDU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-10-13T12:56:50Z
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Why do they always want slaves? I mean I know why... but here me out: I was very wealthy and powerful and could hire people to do all sorts of things I'd want to get them all excited and creative about the things that I worry about, the things I care about and the things I like. I want them to like their jobs enough to do them better than I ever could, and to surprise me by doing things I didn't even think of. The only way slaves will surprise you is when they kill you. @tob @jwcph
(DIR) Post #AmxqUIQQlkh2VqxcWW by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-10-13T12:59:39Z
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To think having people enslaved to you won't end poorly you need to have a very inflated sense of your own ability to control other people and pretty deep contempt for the creativity and resourcefulness of the slaves. And now you have to always live in fear. Sleep with a knife under your pillow. I can see how people get backed into that corner but it's never sustainable. @tob @jwcph
(DIR) Post #AmxqaBEKQwtBw16bpo by robotistry@sciencemastodon.com
2024-10-13T12:21:42Z
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@carrideen @futurebird In London, we loved the public transportation - especially how everyone (both residents and people coming in for an event or work) took the tube to get where they needed to be.But that egalitarian usage doesn't happen by accident. It happens because, for residents *and visitors*, cars are slower and less convenient / predictable than buses and subways. In most US cities, a car is more convenient for visitors and locals use public transit.
(DIR) Post #AmxqaDZJjsrnBgwOpM by robotistry@sciencemastodon.com
2024-10-13T12:33:08Z
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@carrideen @futurebird That convenience is the product of many factors:- Are stops no more than a 15-20 minute walk apart?- Will I be able to eat or feed my child a snack on the train?- How safe/clean are the stops and trains?- Are the stops close to where I want to go / have parking where I'm coming from?I work in a city with good public transit, yet people using it to reach my workplace face a 45 minute walk or 1h bus ride *on top of* their in-city commute.
(DIR) Post #Amxql2TVKFufxyNjQO by zdl@mastodon.online
2024-10-13T11:57:32Z
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@futurebird When Line 2 finally opened, it instantly changed the tenor of the city. Hankou and Wuchang districts stopped acting like they were separate cities for starters. But … this is where I (finally) come to the point.Because Line 2 was only about ½ completed when they opened it. Ultimately it would be extended on both ends by large distances. On one end it went to the airport. On the other end it went to a distant suburb that was a challenge to commute to.🧵 ▶️
(DIR) Post #Amxql30TLgHhcDo3oO by zdl@mastodon.online
2024-10-13T11:59:31Z
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@futurebird And the weird thing was that, naturally, they built the stations first before digging the tunnels to the stations. (The stations were, after all, where the tunneling was done *from*.)And around all the stations, long before the extensions were made, there was massive economic development. Residences, then-mostly empty, popped up. Shopping centres. Schools. Parks. All this kind of stuff was popping up, mostly empty, but ready for something.🧵 ▶️
(DIR) Post #Amxql3t44hxALXLeu8 by zdl@mastodon.online
2024-10-13T12:02:11Z
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@futurebird It was weird. In some places along the route to the airport, a station would pop up in the middle of nothingness ... and within a year there was a sizable neighbourhood built around it. And then the magic happened.When the tunnel was connected to that station and passengers could start travelling there, these neighbourhoods filled. The very existence of public transit *created jobs*. *Created homes*. *Created economic life*.🧵 ▶️
(DIR) Post #Amxql4AR27qdDPTWym by zdl@mastodon.online
2024-10-13T12:04:12Z
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@futurebird There were loads of roads built too, going to those newly-built neighbourhoods, but that didn't bring many people. Some people moved in, some shops opened, etc. But not enough to keep the neighbourhoods viable.When good, efficient, and fast public transit became available, however, these neighbourhoods exploded into life.Public transit built the economy of Wuhan, in effect.🧵 ⏹️
(DIR) Post #Amxql545hCMq01VyjI by zdl@mastodon.online
2024-10-13T12:04:47Z
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@futurebird As a postscript, there's now 18 metro lines in Wuhan. We seem to get two or three new lines each year now. 🤣
(DIR) Post #Amxql5Fmzhj0aIzJxo by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-10-13T13:02:39Z
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@zdl The folks at the MTA are so jealous of how Chinese planners get to get things right from the start in ways that are impossible in NYC. It's very hard to build here because every inch above and below ground is being used by so many people and all of them will get mad when you want to do something. I hope we can take a trip in the coming years to see the system firsthand.
(DIR) Post #AmxqtxIHxQWaVKO5Dc by zdl@mastodon.online
2024-10-13T13:04:16Z
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@futurebird Well to be fair they botched Line 1 (though Line 1 is a decent backbone now). They learned from that lesson, however. The rest of this subway is easily in the top five public transit systems I've seen. (The one in Seoul was better, for a recent example.)
(DIR) Post #AmxrXcrlKKzkjQtdPE by Wharrrrrrgarbl@an.errant.cloud
2024-10-13T13:11:26Z
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@futurebird @tob @jwcph one thing that seems common among the unfathomably rich is an overriding insistence that they get their way. From Steve Jobs screaming at engineers to Trump and Musk being what they are, it's an utterly incurious need to have whatever they want to happen, happen immediately. You want to be surprised; they want to dictate every aspect of every interaction in their lives.
(DIR) Post #Amxrx7MZ4sRUYVSXmC by andrewhinton@jawns.club
2024-10-13T13:16:03Z
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@futurebird As I’ve been saying for a long time, by the time you make infrastructure actually work efficiently for “autonomous” cars — including roads outfitted with additional crap to keep them from being confused and the necessity to have them all on a shared protocol that can route them logistically — you’ve essentially recreated public transportation, but worse and more expensive.
(DIR) Post #Amxt5AzjYhJC5eBeHw by il_fritz@mastodon.social
2024-10-13T13:28:43Z
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@futurebird I think it all originated from cool sci-fi looking pictures LinkedIn influencers put out to grow their networks. They grow unchecked until too many people take them as fact. And then some idiot even wastes public money trying to build them, with predictable resultshttps://bigthink.com/the-present/france-solar-road/
(DIR) Post #AmxtX84G2De57WdERM by michael_w_busch@mastodon.online
2024-10-13T13:33:45Z
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@futurebird It is not a coincidence that the places I am aware of having tried running solar panels along railroad tracks are places like Switzerland: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science/swiss-solar-railway-project-gets-back-on-track/87707181Nor do they pretend to able to ever meet more than 10% or so of the energy used by all transportation.
(DIR) Post #Amxy31gBilpqOIq3GK by memory@m.blank.org
2024-10-13T14:24:22Z
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@futurebird “New Yorkers Against New York" is a depressingly large constituency.
(DIR) Post #AmxyZAg5ngxrZ97cJM by memory@m.blank.org
2024-10-13T14:27:08Z
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@futurebird I've gotten into multiple arguments with my neighbors who were upset that a new all-subsidized-affordable-housing development in our neighborhood was “too tall.”I live in Manhattan.The new building is on Broadway.
(DIR) Post #AmxyZBufD0DLOcwlf6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-10-13T14:30:07Z
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@memory The UES is the densest residential neighborhood in the country. There are also people there who regularly talk about how "all these new tall buildings are ruining our quaint little community" ... and I get it. Every NYC neighborhood feels quaint when you live there... but also... have you looked at YOUR OWN HOUSE? It's literally a HUGE BUILDING.
(DIR) Post #Amy0va7E6X40jqcxJA by xabih@paquita.masto.host
2024-10-13T14:56:35Z
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@futurebird The train already exist.
(DIR) Post #AmyOZTsqzWRBwKto2q by jwcph@helvede.net
2024-10-13T19:21:33Z
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@futurebird @tob They truly think they can sustain it. You know those B-movie villains insisting "where Alexander, Djengis Khan & Hitler failed, I will succeed!"? That's them. I'm not even slightly kidding; they're building elaborate apocalypse bunkers indistinguishable from a Bond villain lair *right now* because they believe they'll still be top dogs even if the world literally ends. To say they have a grossly inflated sense of importance is an utterly laughable understatement. They're insane.
(DIR) Post #AmyaOU5z3w9srSYzzs by kyonshi@dice.camp
2024-10-13T21:34:00Z
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@futurebird @tob @jwcph yes, but you are a normal person. It's a power thing. They don't care about effectiveness or danger, they want to own people because it shows to the world that they matter and other people don't.
(DIR) Post #An0LOTDJEOVz87Re08 by ND3JR@social.coop
2024-10-14T16:55:24Z
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@futurebird I roll my eyes every time I get an email with the university news talking about research on roads that charge vehicles as they're going. So much wasted resources.