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Elon, I'm Bored [Part One]
by ArthurMay 30th, 2022
Too Long; Didn't Read
Arthur Tkachenko and Mónica Freitas discuss why Boring Company isn't makes me happy. They say Elon Musk's tunnel-boring endeavor has officially started digging underneath Los Angeles. The question: Do these tunnels come with greener transport alternatives that might come with environmental downsides? If not, is it worth it to be worth it? Do you want to start tunneling tunnels for a greener transportation system? Do we get the perks of building tunnels for driving and one employee get crazy in traffic?People Mentioned
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This Slogging thread by Arthur Tkachenko and Mónica Freitas occurred in slogging's official #random channel, and has been edited for readability.
Ok Elon, I'm really bored
Hello Slogging citizens, today wanna explore why Boring Company isn't makes me happy.
Mónica Freitas Limarc Ambalina Ellen Stevens richard-kubina do you wanna hop?
it's started at 2017 https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/29/elon-musks-boring-machine-completes-the-first-section-of-an-la-tunnel.html
"Serial entrepreneur https://www.cnbc.com/elon-musk/ says his ambitious tunnel-boring endeavor, aptly named The Boring Company, has officially started digging underneath Los Angeles."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP0DnKu6itE
there were a few iterations made after that. As an engineer in mind, he and his team decided to reinvent the wheel and upgrade current machines. it was not a bad idea btw, because this business is old and nobody want to be a gamechanger. at the same time - there a lot of things that slowing things down...
like a huge machine that actually doing this digging
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrlXsHjbaNk
in a few years later there was a presentation party, which was funny, but still raised a lot of questions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS-swDhBrP0
i'll skip monetization aka smart marketing where by using Elon's influence in Twitter(he bought it, funny right?) and raise money by selling flamethrowers and baseball caps.
as a startup in mind, everything changes quickly and few majors from big cities tried to push tunnels via Boring Company but were hit with bureaocracy and got silent...
but Las Vegas tunnel digging still started and I think started well. Even while we didn't get Sci-Fi "Maimi 80s" things - it proved the point. It actually can dig for a client
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02vsw1jWU8Q
Cool company also jumped on this train and start to build their boring machines too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0SljoJPty0
But again, if we want to move forward from traffic in LA into gliding in tonnels - there not a lot of progress, to be honest. Plus, I'm sure that Musk want to dig some dirt out on Mars... With this type of rate, it will be too far away for him to watch
As civilization moves forward, we did a great leap from trains running on coil
https://media.giphy.com/media/ZzBtoSC42IrMQ/giphy.gif
But we still moving goods by tankers and then diesel trucks moving things into our malls. And we move goods from that malls into our houses using gas cars...
if we move heavy goods transportation under the ground - it can help a lot. Like it will not destroy roads quickly, not pollute our lungs with stuff and i'm sure it can drive cost down, which we all want to experience.
while someone can say - we still have plenty roads - check what Jeff Bezos did. In order to be able to have his 1-day delivery - he bought a fleet(ok, lease) a fleet of airplanes. and i'm sure, Jeff and team know something....
Here you can watch a long presentation from 2018 for some tech inspiration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwX9G38vdCE
While me still not satisfied with results, valuation is going up
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/21/elon-musks-boring-company-hits-5point7-billion-valuation.html
Arthur Tkachenko, I'm not super aware of what Boring Company is doing at the moment but though I get the perks of building tunnels for goods transportation, is Musk or anyone involved in this endeavor concerned about the environmental downsides that might come from this? Do these tunnels come with greener transport alternatives? If not, is it worth it to start tunneling?
Mónica Freitas there were two items that started Boring Company: Elon get crazy about driving and sitting in traffic jams and one SpaceX employee get hit by a car near their office.
Can you explain what do you mean by "environmental downsides that might come from this"?
< Do these tunnels come with greener transport alternatives?
He want to put Teslas inside of it, so cars with gas engines wouldn't be allowed.
Plus, there are places, like stadiums, malls, and airports that always have huge parking lot areas. if tunnels will be connected to such places, people can use electro bus for moving out.
< If not, is it worth it to start tunneling?
as towns are growing(let's assume pandemic is over and everybody gets back to their offices) there is a need for tunnels(not just for transportation, but for water pipes, cabels, etc)
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wow, just figure out that there is a whole series about digging tunnels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE2MSXM1OpI
Cool video about how Chicago mayor trying to be cool and grow the city quickly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnobWh5iloE
Small boring machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HXfBprA7yU
while it's smaller than previous titans, humans still can sit in it ^_^
While i think hyperloops are still decades away, for sure, combining tunnels with loops without air is doable, but very hard to achieve. So they probably digging some dirt out, and building a straight line for Hyperloop(it doesn't like turns, so +1 problem with our towns) and testing some beta vehicles there.
But not more that. only a test site
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YFKPsWdleI
This video also proves my point - right now Boring Company used mostly as PR stunt for promoting some crazy projects, instead of using real cases/towns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_8uxlpmug
Arthur Tkachenko I love how Musk went like: I'm sick of traffic. Let's dig holes 😂😂
Arthur Tkachenko so essentially it would be another way for him to establish a monopoly and get more money. Wouldn't it be more efficient to create another railway system underground but try to make it greener?
Less traffic, more sustainable options, less pollution. Win-win
Mónica Freitas i think there are a few downsides to the "railway system underground". because it will require building more wide tunnels, railway require big machines/engines to drive trains....
while tunnels that Musk wants to build are not wide at all, they are mostly a size of a car that will run through them.
Plus, as Musk building an autopilot - you don't need to have a pilot that will ride a train underground
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