[D2man]

Am I the only one here thinking this is an unwanted future ?

Aerospace is already profiting to few rich people on earth and represents 2% of global emissions and this is saying "well we need to go faster consuming yet huge amount of fuel" for the wealthiest. Please stop these technos solutionists gadget and start to think real problems like the climate crisis.

[mcherm]

So, according to the article, Boom intends to make their plane carbon neutral from day 1 (by using fuel generated from atmospheric carbon). Clearly that is intended to address concerns like yours.

Does that change your opinion in any way? If so, how does it change? If not, then why not?

[panick21]

I not against Boom but this claim to me is not credible. Maybe they will do this for their testing of the airplane. The claim that all their planes will fly with such fuel is not currently credible.

[user-the-name]

No. That fuel could be used for other things, to offset more emissions, rather than wasting it on the ultra rich.

[cpursley]

Have you considered that it could be used by more than just the ultra rich. For example, medical flights. Or emergency family travel (like when my mother was dying last month and I was on the other side of the world and missed my chance to see her alive due to lenghty air travel).

[CryptoPunk]

If this succeeds, it won't just be for rich people. Anything technological goes down in price over time. And there are huge benefits to modes of affordable travel become faster, which the article details.

[user-the-name]

That is even worse.

[CryptoPunk]

Not if the fuel comes from carbon-neutral sources.

[user-the-name]

This is 100% correct. The last thing we need is more inefficient aviation for the super-rich.

[mrfusion]

Would you have said the same thing about the Tesla roadster 20 years ago?

[ClumsyPilot]

No, because physics. Electric engines are twice more energy efficient than their ICE cousins.

Supersonic jets are 2-3 times less energy efficient than 'normal' jets, and all methods to make them carbon neutral can be applied to both modes of transport.

[lnsru]

You are forgetting one thing: how the electricity is generated. Nuclear reactor is clean, hydro energy from waterfall in Norway is even better. Or a coal power plant in Germany. Electric engine might be super efficient. But at the end it could also be coal powered vehicle.

[user-the-name]

And?

[lnsru]

Efficiency does not matter when you burn coal!

[ignoramous]

Historically, things that were only meant for the super rich eventually got commoditised for everyone. And: Under current capitalist regimes, this is how humans push the envelope of possibilities, like it or not.

Climate crisis is urgent but token efforts to strike down nascent businesses on the cutting-edge such as Boom is not how the world solves it (discounting the fact that Boom has a path forward to be carbon-neutral: https://boomsupersonic.com/sustainability)

[user-the-name]

> Historically, things that were only meant for the super rich eventually got commoditised for everyone

That would make the situation much, much worse.

> Under current capitalist regimes, this is how humans push the envelope of possibilities, like it or not

"Not" would be the choice there. This is exactly the reason why we are in this crisis.

[cpursley]

It's always entertaining to see techno-luddites on HN - where the average person is wealthy and probably drives a gasoline car for most daily activities.

This is like criticizing the automobile back when only the ultra wealthy could afford them and most people still road around on horse or foot.

[ClumsyPilot]

Basically your post reads like this meme:

https://pics.me.me/we-should-improve-society-somewhat-yet-yo...

[nickkell]

The people posting here may be wealthy, but I’d wager the vast majority aren’t Concorde wealthy

[panick21]

There is a difference being potentially Concorde wealthy and actually choosing to spend money to fly in one.

Also, some of use are not exactly Concorde young haha.

[SubuSS]

Are you talking about buying one or traveling in one? Latter is very accessible at least according to projections.

[afavour]

You haven’t really refuted any of the points the OP made, though?

[project2501a]

It's also fun to see people who believe in global capitalism and make Ben-Shapiro-level of arguments.