Ben Norton was dunking on this absurd take
Many hard science programs in the US indoctrinate graduates with neoliberal economic dogma while leaving them politically and historically illiterate. But because they have PhDs, they arrogantly believe they know everything, and make extremely stupid comments like this, showing they are actually deeply ignorant about many things. Just because you worked for NASA doesn’t mean you know anything outside of your narrow field.
This loser also has “hyperloop” in his bio, which should instantly disqualify you from ever talking about transit ever again
Didn’t even melon admit hyperloop was a scam to prevent Cali from building hs rail?
Mf complains about digging yet is a tunnel supporter. Curious.
“THE PARAGON OF POOR ECONOMIC CHOICES”?
Economically, there were initial concerns, particularly outside China, over the high-speed rail’s cost, debt and profitability. However, research by the Paulson Institute has estimated the net benefit of the high-speed rail to the Chinese economy to be approximately $378 billion, with an annual return on investment of 6.5%.
, particularly outside China
capitalists mad 'cause bad
for the record the long term average of the s&p 500 is 6.45%, and that is considered a good investment. 6.5% is a smidge better but it should be noted that transportation historically is not very profitable by nature despite the value it provides, so the fact that they have been able to get such good returns for the economy at large is pretty impressive.
This is good context, and I typically avoid the profit conversation on topics like this altogether.
Not everything can be or should be designed and operated around profit. Providing a service costs money. When something is a public service, the benefit that the public receives from operating that service isn’t profit, the benefit they receive is the service.
The whole point of transitioning towards socialism is that we want to be able to organize our labor and put the resources that we generate as a society towards projects that give some kind of benefit to us, not just towards projects that can turn a profit for people who privately own the economy.
Yeah, but what if China had invested its HSR budget into Bitcoin instead?
Ah yes, the perfect investment strategy
This is what happened with bike lane too. Naysayers say that bike actually block people from parking their car and penalize small businesses.
But in reality local businesses profit actually goes up after the lane is set up
Every single year on my 10 feet above see level flat road highway has half its lanes closed for 1-2 months in order to repair the potholes that form every single year from weather and weight.
This moron thinks digging isn’t a vital aspect of building roads?
I wonder what he thinks all those rock faces right next to roads are.
This isn’t the type of person that’s ever had to consciously engage with the earth on its own terms. They walk on pavement, they get on an airplane and arrive at their destination (abusing workers if there’s a weather related delay), they definitely don’t dig holes.
I don’t need to be lectured by a guy with a bluecheck about poor economic decisions
hills or mountains
Switzerland famous for not having trains
Also, as if digging through hills and mountains has ever been an issue since the invention of dynamite.
Japan, famous for not having trains
Fuck the US even figured it out
Americal railways are in such shit condition and so poorly used, that ‘figured it out’ may be a bit too much.
America is so trash at building trains that they needed the Chinese to do it even back in the 1800s
Prior to World War II, we had it figured out. The destruction of “it” was an intentional political project (insert comparison maps of a major city’s trolley lines in 1921 compared to 2021 here).
Every problem with rail this person lists is also a problem with every other form of transportation. You also have to lay roads, docks, or airports to get stuff where you’re going. Infrastructure has to be built unless you’re transporting stuff by donkey.
Rails are still less expensive to build and maintain. Railroads are something like 2/3 the cost of equivalent lengths of highway, and yet have greater cargo capacity and fuel efficiency.
Nah, everyone knows that cars and roads used to roam wild in the americas until they were domesticated by the intrepid settlers of america.
Infrastructure has to be built unless you’re transporting stuff by donkey
oh please don’t give them the idea to do donkey-uber
your donkey jockey Erin is .8km away and will deliver ass transport shortly
NeuraLink-controlled autonomous Donkey Ubers“We’re sorry, but your DonkeyUber has been struck by an 18-wheeler while trying to cross the freeway. Please hold while we find you a new animal.”
Donkeys also require infrastructure. You ever been hiking? The difference in exertion from even the shittiest of gravel roads compared to roughing it through actual untreated terrain is insane and even the shitty gravel road is by all means a herculean effort
You also have to lay roads, docks, or airports to get stuff where you’re going. Infrastructure has to be built unless you’re transporting stuff by donkey.
Only one solution remains then. REJECT MODERNITY, RETVRN TO TRADITION
Hell, donkeys didn’t hit peak efficiency until the Royal Road/Silk Road was thoroughly established
Shouldn’t rail be more necessary than ever with global population having risen 8x since the invention of the steam locomotive and a consistently increasing % of people living in urban environments? Cars are more useful when you live in a sprawled out town in the middle of fucking nowhere and there aren’t a thousand people in your area trying to get to work at the same time as you.
The roads here are just disintegrating they took all the money away from the department of transportation and are trying to make everyone go back to the office
If the paragon of poor economic choices is overtaking you economically, how truly below awful is your country doing?!
Dude’s Australian. His brain is beyond poisoned.
The American economy is dependent on massive freight rail networks.
- : “YOU DISAGREED! YOU DISAGREED! THAT PROVES ME RIGHT SOMEHOW!”
And if China is the paragon of poor economic choices, then how is it considered a threat to US hegemony?
Enemy simultaneously too weak and too strong.
Schrödinger’s Russia’s Fallacy Paradox
When the concepts of scale and efficiency defy your understanding
He’s a Hyperloop enthusiast. So yes.
i really appreciate that a blue check indicates a post that you don’t need to take seriously.
Not to mention he puts “PhD” in his handle.
These people take social media way to serious, bragging about your fake degree on twitter is really funny.
Why is the degree fake?
I don’t know that for a fact, but people who put their degree in their social media display name are goofy.
PhD stands for Phake Degree
Look at the fucking followup tweet?
“Ohh no a bunch of people are telling me I’m a dumbass. First day here losers?”
“Ohh no a bunch of people are telling me I’m a dumbass. First day here losers?”
What is that supposed to mean? Is he saying that the fact that he’s a dumbass shouldn’t be news to anyone and is so well established that it isn’t worthy of comment?
What he thinks it sounds like is he’s a free thinker who doesn’t care what other people think about his opinions.
What it actually sounds like is he’s such a huge dumbass if anybody is surprised that’s on them.
Want to create car-length transport on rail roads? Can’t.
What car brain does to a MF.
Besides, we already have a work-around for that, as well as the “what if the railroad doesn’t go there?” problem: Auto train. Train can take you 90% of the way and then take the personal vehicle the last 10%.
Gonna be honest here the Auto train is an incredibly dumb idea born out of car consumerism. There’s absolutely no need to ferry a lot of cars somewhere on a train inherently, they could just have cars there you could rent
I get the economics of this, car rentals are expensive and all, but it’s not a good idea generally
Yeah it’s not really something that makes sense en masse, there’s a reason Amtrak runs it as a specialty line to a tourism hot spot. Point is, if it was absolutely necessary and personal vehicle rental wasn’t an option at the destination station, the option is on the table.
Or you could just have a bus station integrated with the rail station.
Planes are bad because you need to land at an airport and there aren’t airports everywhere.
Cars bad because you need to dig in order to make 20 lane wide highways.
The only good transportation is the helicopter.
Specifically an Osprey.
The only good transportation is a Lada Niva 1985
nah, dont be silly, roads or airports dont need to be built, they just sort of appear.
The only good transportation is boat, and even boat is bad because the entire planet isn’t water.
What’s his PhD in, bootlicking?
Looks like he’s a Math Guy out of University of Syndey. Which does not give me much respect for their math department.
Can’t imagine a doctoral board giving this guy more than a sharp kick in the ass for delivering a dissertation in this style.
Is he the reason we don’t have high speed rail between Sydney and Melbourne? It’s absurd how many flights there are between both cities.
