[pclmulqdq]

Why do people lionize trying ideas that are known to be dumb and/or impossible? Is it because we just no longer believe that things truly are impossible (or dumb)? The ideas that all turn out to be "impossible" successes are ones where the math or physics bears out the idea but the engineering is "impossible."

Hyperloop (and vacuum train systems for the ~100 years they were called that before the Musk rebrand) had physics problems, and no matter how hard anyone tried, they were guaranteed to run into them. Cargo airships also have a physics problem that make them absurdly expensive and risky to put cargo on. In both cases, this is an idea that is 100 years old and where the physics has been studied. This time is not different unless you have solid reasoning.

Contrast that with rockets, to use another Musk example: Rockets are well within the bounds of physics, but a hard engineering problem. Landing a rocket propulsively was also known to be an "impossible" engineering challenge that was first demonstrated in the 1990's (with too low reliability).

[perilunar]

> Landing a rocket propulsively was also known to be an "impossible" engineering challenge that was first demonstrated in the 1990's (with too low reliability).

No it wasn't. It was done many times in the 60s and 70s — e.g. all the moon landings.

[frickinLasers]

Well, TIL something I thought was demonstrated mid-century didn't happen until the 90s.

[Qwertious]

>Why do people lionize trying ideas that are known to be dumb and/or impossible?

Because airships are really cool.

[frickinLasers]

Because airships are simple and cheap, and as the blog post says: if they can get cargo point-to-point across the Atlantic, they will put air freight out of business.

If they can't do that, at least they could be competitive.

[pclmulqdq]

Ships are simple and cheap. Airships are known to combine the drawbacks of ships (slow, weather-dependent) with the drawbacks of airplanes (needs to be light so it can fly).

That is not a winning combination for putting any kind of freight carrying out of business. The main reason people use air freight today is to get something from one continent to another in 24 hours. Airships will never do that.

[pclmulqdq]

Great, form an airship club. Stop throwing $100 million after $100 million of your investors' cash at your hobby.

[Qwertious]

I'll keep that in mind if I ever have money to invest in airships with.

[pclmulqdq]

(This was obviously not aimed at you, but at the VCs who have been trying this for the last 30 years)