Some MORE of the World's Most Useless Megaprojects

Discover the dark side of ambitious megaprojects, from the sinking of artificial islands to the plumbing problems of the world's tallest building. Explore the practical and safety concerns that have led to the failures of grand designs, including the questionable practicality of the hyperloop system and the tragic story of the Soviet disaster airliner, Tu-104. Join us as we delve into the world of ambitious projects gone wrong and the lessons we can learn from their failures.
Biographics: / @biographics
Geographics: / @geographicstravel
Warographics: / @warographics643
MegaProjects: / @megaprojects9649
Into The Shadows: / intotheshadows
TopTenz: / toptenznet
Today I Found Out: / todayifoundout
Highlight History: / @highlighthistory
Business Blaze: / @brainblaze6526
Casual Criminalist: / thecasualcriminalist
Decoding the Unknown: / @decodingtheunknown2373

[@scott2100]

Somebody who works on a particle accelerator here to also dunk on Hyperloop; do you know how difficult it actually is to pump down a small section of tubing to high vacuum and the kind of equipment needed and the energy requirements? Yeah, that on a human scale is stupidly inefficient compared to just using a regular train

[@DaveXXX]

Anything they can do to waste money instead of actually just funding high speed rail infrastructure and rail in general 🙄

[@dianapennepacker6854]

Yeah. There are better ways to achieve speed. This is a really dumb question. Wonder if there is a way for trains to use something similar to those torpedoes that use super cavitation to create a bubble of air ahead moving the more turbulent air aside or some shit like that.

[@HyperactiveNeuron]

Exactly! It was always a waste of time and money and probably just a boondoggle for a massive tax write-off.

[@sandhilltucker]

​@@DaveXXXpreposterous! that would help poor people instead of rich people who demand more than they already have out of life!

[@fuzzysteve]

​@@HyperactiveNeuron or, just possibly, it was by someone who depends on cars being successful, trying to spike rail projects.

[@gbennett58]

I flew on an Aeroflot passenger jet in 1983 from Moscow to Leningrad. There were people on board with live chickens in baskets. The plane creaked very audibly throughout the flight. I felt lucky to survive the flight.

[@samanthacarmichael4380]

That is wild!!

[@chrisdemoor4884]

In heinsight it seems you were one of the lucky few who actually did survive

[@hannahp1108]

There are Aeroflot flights that crashed because the pilot was drunk. More than one, if I recall correctly

[@belacickekl7579]

@@hannahp1108 Many, many, many did. The list of Aeroflot crashes is like 5 wikipedia pages, and I'd say that alcohol was involved in at least a quarter, maybe even over a half.

[@superdingo9741]

@@belacickekl7579 Yes, it must be said there were not a single successful Aeroflot flight and 3 out every 2 flights end up crashing with over 10000 fatalities per a flight.

[@anthonyholroyd5359]

Things like 'Hyperloop' are what we, in the transport industry, would call a 'Gadgetbahn'. A new and complex mode of transit that seems futuristic, and tends to generate alot of excitement because of its futuristic, complex 'high-tech' look and feel . . . But is actually less workable, less effecient and less capable at what it's designed to do than older, simpler and existing technologies.

[@scott2100]

It should have been brought up what it has become; an incredibly stupid taxi service in an inescapable tunnel

[@kangarooninja2594]

Like rockets using closed cycle full flow combustion engines to land retropropulsively?

[@TwentyNinerR]

A gadgetbahn is probably the correct term to describe Indonesia's upcoming high-speed rail that'll connect Jakarta and Bandung, due to these factors: 1. It's ridiculously expensive, currently setting the nation back at an equal of US$ 8 billion; the same amount of money can be used to connect the whole of Indonesia on rails instead of only connecting the metropolitan cities of Jakarta and Bandung 2. It's not as efficient as the existing rail network between the cities, as the new HSR requires a new station that's less strategically located than the existing rail network at one end and doesn't really reach the city core of Bandung at the other end, requiring passengers to take a feeder train 3. The cities of Jakarta and Bandung are already super well-connected with the existing diesel trains or a myriad of shuttle buses, all of which have really affordable tickets. The new high-speed rail's expected ticket price is triple of these transports' ticket prices.

[@jacobiwolf77]

Like how the Average Joe could do most of the work needed on his truck in his garage 30 years ago but to work on a current year vehicle you need to be a computer engineer

[@combinetheelite]

@@kangarooninja2594 that was always planned to be done in rocketry

[@hannahp1108]

As someone who lives on the West Coast, the Hyperloop was always ridiculous to me because...earthquakes

[@bullseyecanada]

The pneumatic subway drawing/schematic you show on Broadway was the one created by Alfred Beach in the late 1800s. He couldn't get a permit from the city of New York (as his competition was thinking of running for mayor and bribed council to not approve Beach's plan) so Alfred dug the tunnel and two stations by hand, at night, in the dark over the course of a year. He then stuck a train in it and showed that pneumatics would work...but he and his invention were buried in political controversy. Beach's memory was immortalized in Canadian band Klaatu's song "Sub Rosa Subway' in 1973.

[@gameready4lyfe301]

Very believable great detail 👌

[@ethal1222]

I'm not an engineer. But I once had one tell me that one of the universal truths of engineering is that EVERYTHING leaks, even without the massive pressure differential required for the Hyperloop.

[@michaelimbesi2314]

In the Hyperloop’s case it’s also an issue with the pod itself. Remember, the tube is pumped down to a vacuum. If a pod springs a leak, the air inside the pod will escape into the tube and all the passengers will die just as if they were dumped into the vacuum of space without a suit.

[@geelee1977]

I am an engineer, and the hyperloop is pure anti-science.

[@SciHeartJourney]

Your instincts serve you well. You're exactly right about that; NOthing is perfect. Perfection is an illusion, a goal that we strive for, but never totally achieve.

[@SciHeartJourney]

@@michaelimbesi2314 , thank you! 👍 That's what I'm always saying too. There's this one NASA story about a guy that was exposed to a hard vacuum for about 45 seconds. He was lucky to survive. If you look at the studies of regular train stations, they have to be about 15 MINUTES apart for the system to be economical. Too many stops, it's too expensive to run. Too little stops and people won't use it. I feel confident in saying that NObody can survive 15 minutes in a hard vacuum!

[@SciHeartJourney]

@@geelee1977 , I'm only an electronics engineer, so at first I was one of the minions that thought it was a good idea. But whenever I criticized some aspect of the project in social media its supporters would always attack me as some kind of "troll" 🙄. I just asked basic science questions like, "how much energy and TIME does it take to transport people through airlocks?" Or I'd ask, "what happens in the event that a pod LEAKS"? They want pretend that everything is perfect, and STAYS perfect over continuous long-term use by the public. No seal is perfect, or stays perfect forever. I guess I'll always be that "troll" that doesn't trust what rich billionaires want people to believe. I believe in Science instead!

[@th3epcplayer958]

7:55 “There has not been a single fatality due to accident of a US airline passenger in 14 years” Wrong, Southwest Flight 1380 had 1 fatality in 2018. An engine exploded, sending shrapnel into the cabin and causing a rapid decompression. One passenger was partially sucked out of the plane and died due to injuries

[@tomfoolery3847]

I think I heard about this from Mr. Ballen here on KZbin. The story about this incident was horrifying.

[@--KP-]

The stat may not have been quoted exactly correctly. Usually it's "there hasn't been a fatal CRASH of a US airliner since..." The Southwest flight didn't crash, so it doesn't get counted. But it's not correct to say there have been no fatalities at all.

[@mbarker_lng]

The Hyperloop always felt like Mel Brook's "The Producers": Something designed to fail because the people behind it found a way to make money off that failure.

[@MichaelScottRamming]

What I’ve heard is that Hyperloop was intended to be a distraction from building California High-Speed Rail, which would have a decent chance at getting people out of their cars, so fewer future Tesla EV sales.

[@mbarker_lng]

@@MichaelScottRamming I have heard similar since then. People need to remember Elon is most focused on making money for himself, not pushing Civilization forward.

[@seanmurry6903]

This right here. Also, I think the distraction angle us very valid

[@HealingBlight]

Nothing quite like trusting public transport project to car manufacturers.

[@fm9572]

"Hyperloop" is the NFT of mass transit.

[@LiveFreeOrDie2A]

As an HVAC tech who regularly puts lengths of piping under a vacuum I can definitely attest to how impossible this idea is

[@mumblbeebee6546]

Over the last few months Simon has shifted tone quite markedly, and while I can speculate whether it is part of a pub bet, a long planned strategy, a recent epiphany or something far cleverer that for me to comprehend, I don’t mind - I’m here for it 😂

[@QBCPerdition]

I think it's just recognizing what people like. His Brain Blaze and Decoding the Unknown shows are wildly popular, and in those, he shows more of himself, so that is spreading to his other shows. And like you, I'm here for it

[@GeorgieB1965]

i haven't seen this kind of animation out of him since the Casual Criminalist podcasts/YT channel

[@roncolemanlaw]

I thought he was drunk-YouTubing a few weeks ago but I guess not

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

​@@roncolemanlaw he said something about being under the weather in a video released on another channel today, I know his filming schedule isn't linear in any way, but he films a lot in a day, this may have been produced in say, the same work week maybe? He sounds similarly stuffed up, but not quite so bad in this one. I feel for the guy, he's a freaking legend and just keeps on keeping on, under the weather or not. 😎

[@MinMaxxx]

@@roncolemanlaw Simon’s preferred recreational substance is pure Columbian snow 😂

[@johnnyfokzz]

There’s a phrase in Arabic “flus ma tius” - “a donkey with money” which perfectly sums up many of the failed mega projects around the world

[@iteerrex8166]

Thunderfoot endlessly made fun of the hyperloop.

[@Jake1702]

While the Hyperloop has problems, don't cite that dumbass if you want to indicate those problems.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

0:40 - Chapter 1 - Hyperloop (still stupid after all these years) 7:35 - Chapter 2 - Tu 104 (The soviet disaster airliner) 10:50 - Chapter 3 - Just dubai

[@andrew7507]

Man is still updating while watching

[@Furko08]

I don't understand why they still don't add these chapters to the videos

[@mlee6050]

@@Furko08 some of the videos do

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

@@mlee6050 I think its mainly on the really long ones, or possibly depends on which editor is doing the editing

[@mlee6050]

@@alyssinwilliams4570 yeah, I can understand as how much I got a day to watch is so much, trying to catch up with missed videos

[@tonikaihola5408]

In Finland Tupolev is known as “Putolev” or (roughly translated) “drop-down-olev” 😅

[@cleanerben9636]

That's gold!

[@omarvi280]

Puto... that means gay/coward in spanish.

[@mattcooke3079]

The sarcasm makes every second of this and all his videos WORTH IT! 🤣🤣🤣. Keep on keeping on!!!

[@NightMotorcyclist]

The TU-104 was also back heavy and had the tendency to pitch up violently and stall. The plane was developed from a piston engine bomber from Tupolev and was changed minimally for the first jet from Russia.

[@penzlic]

I think you have mistaken it with Tu-114 developed from Tu-95 turboprop bomber. (Mustard have great video about it). Tu-104 looks more like civilian variant of Tu-16 which is turbojet bomber.

[@oldmech619]

The accident in 1981 was caused by overloading. The General Staff demand the cargo be put onboard. The general attitude by staff was pilots are just buss drivers.

[@sparky4878]

@@penzlic correct, the 104 was developed from the Badger.

[@JoeCensored]

My biggest safety concern with the hyperloop is decompression of the car itself. A small leak could result in suffocation of the passengers within minutes. Possibly even a condition similar to the bends which divers need to avoid.

[@ethanjames8371]

They could use air masks connected to an oxygen line that drop down like on an airplane! Of course, if you need to put oxygen tanks on every car, then you’d be accelerating oxygen tanks around at extreme speeds in enclosed spaces… it’s a dangerous idea no matter what you do.

[@CainXVII]

I don't want to get decompressed. I think I will stick to my bike

[@gadaadyn8190]

What you are saying is that Musk sold Hypertubes to Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook!😉

[@maxdanielj]

😄😁😆😅😂🤣😋😛😝😜🤪🙃

[@Superpom40]

And by golly it put them on the map!

[@sandybarnes887]

🎶 Monorail. Monorail 🎶 Marches around

[@melimsah]

But main street's still all cracked and broken!

[@ykkfamily]

Hahahaha

[@tomholroyd7519]

But the Futurama opening sequence! People clearly going through pneumatic tubes! Well that is 1000 years from now, so ...

[@gadaadyn8190]

How many times has Fry hurt himself on those tubes? 😂

[@maxdanielj]

I'm not sure I'd want to use Futurama as a guide for what the future should be like

[@helldad4689]

been getting your videos recommended to me for a while and this is the one that made me subscribe. any channel that will ask "why would anyone want that?" before launching into a detailed explanation of "how did engineers turn this rich moron's fever dream into a shabby reality?" is probably worth hearing from regularly

[@frodopgriffyndor2269]

Welcome to the Simon-verse, it's wild place.

[@NightRogue77]

Lolol omg wait til you uncover the ‘verse bro. My first time, I for real became concerned he was being held somewhere in a remote location.

[@brotherjim3051]

Simon lore is something I keep tabs on.

[@MTTT1234]

How ironic that the Palm island is sinking into the ocean, considering that mega hotel on the tip of the tree is called Atlantis.

[@YeeSoest]

I loved the Space Shuttle. Had a toy from a very young age, always admired it...but to have a worse safety record than IT, as an airliner...is shocking!

[@VideoDotGoogleDotCom]

The stupid Russian plane was still way safer than the Space Shuttle. This video has it wrong. The Shuttle flew a total of 135 times, and there were five of them that flew. That's not a lot of flights per vehicle. The Russian death machines obviously flew way, way more. It's like crashing your car once when you're a taxi driver, or crashing your car once, when you only drive it on your birthdays.

[@schipperkesandhonoraryschi8515]

Love the cynicism in this one Simon - very entertaining! And I genuinely mean that

[@trli7117]

Concerning the abandoned island projects: There's also the idea that extending your coastline by creating artificial islands would extend your Economic Exclusion Zone. Which is the same theory behind China creating artificial islands in the Indochina/South China/Vietnam Sea.

[@AL-lh2ht]

It was more to increase the coastline so you can build beach front houses. which is the only use you would want in Dubia.

[@sand0decker]

My favourite thing about that Economic Exclusion Zone theory is that it would require the neighbouring countries to not just go "No, that is our fishing and trade area"

[@AL-lh2ht]

@@sand0decker Its not a theory. Its international law.

[@trli7117]

@A L Quoting the Preamble to the United Nations Convention on The Law of The Sea, Article60; Artificial islands, installations and structures in the exclusive economic zone, Section 8: "Artificial islands, installations and structures do not possess the status of islands. They have no territorial sea of their own, and their presence does not affect the delimitation of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf." So yeah it "was" a working theory of international law, but it is by *no* means a part of current international law. The UN ruled on the mater several times starting in 1982, and it was widely accepted under international law by the late 90's early 2000's. The timing of which might be taken as another possible reason for the growing lack of interest.

[@mariusvanc]

@@AL-lh2ht Artificial islands don't count, otherwise this would be widespread and leading to all kinds of conflicts CONSTANTLY. China is just claiming unclaimed or disputed already existing natural islands and reefs, building them up, then claiming it's China territory.

[@Bubbaist]

I agree with you about the absurd Gulf monarchies. But I’ve been to Qatar and Oman, and Oman is totally different, in a good way. Just compare the skylines of Dubai and Muscat and you’ll see what I mean. It’s not perfect of course, but they have done a lot of things right in contrast to the other Gulf states. An episode on Oman would be very interesting.

[@nintendoeats]

I lived in Qatar, my parents went to Oman after. They gave very much the same impression, that Oman was a much saner place. Not that Qatar is like Dubai, but boy did they make some weird decisions "We're attaching 5 massive hotels to one mall" "Why?" "Shut up!" "Where will people park?" "They can park in the mall" "You mean the mall that doesn't have anywhere near enough parking when it's just being a mall?" "Shut up!"

[@RealElongatedMuskrat]

​@@nintendoeats I love and hate that this is a seemingly universal thing (building with no thought for parking). My tiny hometown in rural Ireland got rid of much of the already scant parking along the single street where all the local shops are recently, in order to widen the pavements so that they could put benches... in the middle of the town where no one has ever stopped to sit... so we can breathe in some car fumes??? and look at... the butcher shop window? The Post Office? Very bizarre.

[@CainXVII]

​@@RealElongatedMuskratmaybe they want you to start walking a bit more. Where I live the inner city isn't very suitable to cars due to it being very old. The local facebook group is so full of complaints about how there is no parking that it's become a meme among my friends. Meanwhile, if you walk five minutes north there is a football field of a parking lot that costs practically nothing, and south there is too. Just park your car and walk in the city and we will all have a better time.

[@justlucky8254]

I watched a video about the TU-104 that crashed on takeoff and killed all of those high ranking military members. It said that part of the problem was the cargo. The officers bought a lot of stuff to take home like appliances and stuff and they basically forced the crew to get everything on board and it ended up being overweight with poor weight distribution and cargo not properly restrained

[@squidcaps4308]

A sudden catastrophic loss in pressure in one section of a hyperloop would mean that even if the pods are stationary.. there is air coming at you, at the speed of sound. Now imagine the pod going at speed, it would be like hitting a brickwall.

[@stefanschleps8758]

Don't you just hate it when a soup noodle comes blasting out of your nose? Thanks Simon. I was peacefully having my lunch watching this megaproject merriment when we came to the "World Islands" as soon as I saw them the visceral hilarity commenced. (Lmao and noodle out my nose!) Guess I should watch you after eating.

[@sandybarnes887]

Eew. Ick. Gross. 🤮 I love it tho. 😂 😋

[@gtr5973]

I believe such a noodle ejection was the original inspiration for the hyperloop

[@malvoliosf]

“The only slight problem with all of these proposals is that, well, they’re all just a bit insane.”

[@peterselby3619]

I would ask you to compare the safety record of the Comet against other early jets and Ithink you'll find that it co pares more than favourably. Apart from a few crashes in the very early days of the Comet, due to lack of knowledge of the process of fatigue around the windows, the plane had great record for safety. The lessons learned from the Comet were used in aircraft constructed since then.

[@zachsmith1676]

Wasn’t the square windows the only real problem with the comet? It’s the only design issue that comes to mind when the comet is mentioned… if there were other problems I’d love to hear of them

[@user-lv7ph7hs7l]

Unfortunately it's safety was forever tarnished in the mind of the public. People were still quite scared of air travel even in a safe aircraft. So one that had a reputation of exploding mid air even if the issue is fixed is a hard sell. And along came the 707 and ended the British aviation industry so to speak. By being the first they also were the first to learn that vital lesson on metal fatigue, pressurization and square edges... someone was going to learn that lesson. If the 707 had come first with square windows and the Comet began with round windows perhaps Boeing would have gone out of business and the Comet would have it's descendants still flying. Alternate history is fun to speculate.

[@user-lv7ph7hs7l]

​@@zachsmith1676 Some issues with rivets too. Of the three lost 2 were due to windows one in a storm, where the airframe broke apart. This was fixed and the Comet 2 & 3 were moderately succesful flying until the end of the 70s. But no where near the early market dominance Comet "1" had.

[@petrairene]

A problem of the hyperloop for transporting any living beings is g forces in acceleration and particularly stopping.

[@QBCPerdition]

It's no more of an issue for the hyperloop than ot is for high speed rail. As long as you are accelerating at a safe pace, you can reach high speeds without problem.

[@ulrikof.2486]

2 minutes are enough to speed up to 1000 km/h if you only accelerate as much as an average automobile does from 0 to 100 km/h.

[@pamelamays4186]

Hyperloop sounds like the name of a new super fast amusement park loop coaster.

[@alexandersytnik1157]

Passenger service Hyperloop would be a great opportunity to experience a thrill of dying from cabin decompression at sea level, without the inconvenience of going into upper atmosphere or space. Each capsule would not only have to carry its own life support system, but in case of cabin integrity compromise the entire atmosphere would immediately evacuate into the vacuum of the surrounding tube - and unless the passengers managed to get into what would have to be for all intended and purposes a spacesuit, everyone's blood would quickly boil. And of course there would be no practical way of rescuing anyone for hours, if not days.

[@ZachComa]

Any Hyperloop close to a vacuum is a death trap. If there's a rupture anywhere along the tube, there's gonna be a huge rush to reach equilibrium. This will move any pods in the tube, regardless of what direction they're supposed to going, towards the hole at face melting speeds, turning your insides into outsides.

[@LizardVideoDude]

And a hyperloop pod going 700 mph that hits a partially-air-filled section, would experience massive G-forces from air braking. Also not good for the passengers' insides.

[@pigboiii]

They would move away from the hole as thats were the air is rushing in from

[@unclejoe7466]

I seem to remember hearing (maybe on one of Simon's channels?) the senior Soviet military officers had violated regulations and overloaded the Tupolev with contraband cargo, shifting the plane's center of gravity and causing its fatal fall. Edit: Lol!

[@Plaprad]

More than that. That crash was a massive deal. They had illegal alcohol, foods, several Senior officials had their wives on board, a few had their mistresses. They even grabbed a couple giant, multi ton rolls of paper for their base newspaper. The pilot refused to fly the aircraft, but the flag officers were so drunk, they didn't care, and threatened him if he didn't get them home. One officer got last second permission to stay so he could go visit his daughter. The immediate reaction to the crash was NATO sabotage. Then they came to the conclusion that this officer sabotaged it for some reason. The more you read about it, the crazier it gets.

[@dfuher968]

Well, in defense of the Tupolev and its bad design, that was kinda irrelevant in that crash. They had so massively overloaded the plane with all of their illicit crap, that any plane wouldve crashed!

[@Shinzon23]

More like you watched the paper skies video on it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIaUl2dtiKiSd5o

[@efrenmolinar8145]

Paper Skies channel did an episode on the USSR military transport crash killing a large number of higher ups.

[@Shinzon23]

@@efrenmolinar8145 *coughs, points to post above yours*

[@eaphantom9214]

I stayed at Palm 🌴 jameriah in 2017 and I loved it! However what is shown here is mostly correct - Most greenery you can enjoy are the lone date and palm trees every 10 ft apart 😅 Then take into account the villas which are lovely, but I was on the outermost top left "branch" and it took the best part of 1 hour to reach Dubai itself and the mainland! 😂 - Such was the Palava! Depends on time of day and traffic, but even if you are close to the mainland it takes longer than May think 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@ominollo]

For sure Adam Something enjoyed the first and the last topic in this list 😉

[@ironman6527]

Recently discovered your channels. Your personality is fun to watch making it easy to absorb information. Well done. "because of course, Soviet Union" 🤣

[@Zepplin76]

Enjoy as you see the 13 different versions of him based on channel. I recommend "brain blaze" for an example to counter top tens.

[@sandybarnes887]

​@@Zepplin76 I agree. He should check out the video description for a list

[@Gsoda35]

if you want to travel fast then copy the japanese system and consider building it locally first to avoid a broken budget.

[@maxdanielj]

This is what I was thinking. I bet the shinkansen people are laughing their heads off at this nonsense

[@Holland41]

@@maxdanielj Not to mention the SNCF and the TGV concept.

[@argledotorg]

For some reason "deathtrap" seems totally on brand for Musk.

[@CubicSpline7713]

?

[@maxdanielj]

Musky do a overpriced, poorly designed, not though out project that seems like someone tried to use Star Trek physics (see the channel The Science of Science fiction) in the real world? That'd never happen 😱

[@argledotorg]

Looks like article links don't stick? Teslas are notorious for locking people in when they catch fire. Which feels like a backfire of a Musk feature given where and when he grew up

[@MrMann0123]

The Khalifa C city in Abu Dhabi sits up there too. Khalifa A was well developed and well built. Khalifa B (later Shakboot city) was okay. It took a while to really develop a feel and for shops etc to move in but at least there were villas... In-between them both is a massive desert. Just nothing there at all... well, not quite nothing. There are roads into the sand that end and are covered in sand. There are weird little poles or pipes sticking up all over. View it from the air and you discover an entire "city" is mapped out with the services and roads in place but they ran out of money before they could build anything. 15 years ago

[@dmrr7739]

I love the illustration showing a turbofan-driven train… in a vacuum tube. Almost as perplexing as a train running on a air cushion… in a vacuum tube.

[@justinanderson267]

The biggest problem with putting a tunnel system (especially a delicate vacuum system) underground, is that the ground is constantly moving and shifting. I mean, think of how much work the highways need. How are you going to do that if it's underground?

[@randyrohe]

Aside from the vacuum element, It's a mystery which humanity will never solve. Unless we acknowledge the existence of thousands of miles of subway systems.

[@AtheistOrphan]

Victorian engineers seemed to crack the latter with the London Underground system.

[@geoffreycodnett6570]

​@@AtheistOrphan The Underground has constantly been expanded. Most runs through clay or was built by cut and cover. Ground movement doesn't stop tunnels being built, they just don't have to be airtight. Musk seems to ignore the pressure on the outside of the tube as well as the problem, to say the least, of maintaining air in the pods. One accident and the system would be expensive scrap.

[@cockatoo010]

Most of the issues of the TU-104 come from the fact that it's derived from a bomber, the TU-16

[@Ubique2927]

Lived and worked in Dubai, hated every minute of it. From slave Labour, hypocritical alcohol laws, plastic covered rubbish buildings. Concrete made from sea sand, visibly continuously rusting rebar. Etc etc.

[@belacickekl7579]

Just FYI, dutch roll isn't normally much of an issue when it comes to flight controls, and on most aircraft, it won't cause a rapid stall. Many aircraft have dutch roll modes that can be aggravated , but that and the spiral modes are (should be?) some of the less difficult to damp out, I believe. This is because on most aircraft, dutch roll has a very long period of oscillation compared to pitching modes.

[@magnuspotter9821]

This thing about the Burj Kalifa's plumbing has been making the rounds for years but after some digging turns out to be untrue. Unless some new better sourced stuff came out more recently. The footage of the trucks always shown is of trucks queuing to ship sewage out of less privileged developments which were built too quickly, on the cheap, and with zero thought for amenities. So yeah, very much still "Just Dubai".

[@maxdanielj]

The Hyperloop: when someone thinks the monorail episode of the Simpsons should be a guide to the future and that the Shinkansen is too technologically simple.

[@bushmatt]

Wow you have succeeded in sense and sensible science! I can only hope for a generation willing to learn sense and sensibly.

[@bryanreed742]

As a fan of channels like thunderfoot and Adam something, I am loving this new direction.

[@Billblom]

The neat part about having the tube out in the sunlight... The top of the tube would grow as it warmed, but the bottom would not. So you end up with the mother of all sun kinks in the middle of the desert. Oooops. Assuming you figure a way around that by reflecting light onto the bottom half of the tube...What happens in San Francisco if the end at LA is utterly immobilized? The station would have to move north 600 or more feet. You can see the issue here... Doors open and the station is 600-1000 feet from where you are. Then it is time to throw in the weeks and months needed to pull a vacuum on the line from LA to San Fran.... Will require a large number of pumping stations to make it less than 6 months. And as said: LOTS of power, that the state doesn't seem to have..

[@ExteelPaprika]

Holy crap this show covers fascination stuff.

[@angelarch5352]

6:48 SLVTOD "Super Long Vaccuum Tube Of Death!" Best name for it ever! :)

[@KingAlanI]

I knew the Hyper loop was an unrealistic idea but TIL about the sheer level of detail

[@dr.m.hfuhruhurr84]

Well done 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 Mr. Whistler and thank-you for the 𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬 posting good sir! Sincerely ✌😷👍

[@Kiwi-ICU-RN]

We have a lamsom tube in our hospital for sending stuff to the lab and all over the hospital - I assume that’s pneumatic?! Hahaha wrote this before I saw the photo of one 😅

[@QueenofTNT]

It most likely is; but it’s much easier to maintain a smaller pneumatic transporter used to send smaller things like medical samples to a lab (within the same building). Banks use them to make multiple drive through stalls (they can send you a small capsule through a tube with the paperwork you need) if I remember correctly

[@RejonMunchausen]

you hear hyperloop but the 'monorail' song plays

[@SRFriso94]

If you want a deeper dive on the Tu 104 that killed 16 Soviet Admirals, look up Paper Skies, he has a great video on the subject. As with many things USSR, it's a tragicomedy.

[@vada4104]

elon was really trying to make the futurama tubes 😔😔😔

[@Jeef733]

I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the inspiration

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

There's nothing wrong with the Hyperloop idea that a lode of Vibranium and the best architects and engineers from Wakanda couldn't fix.

[@Knight6831]

Yeah in regards to the British De-Havilland Comet it should be kept in mind, the early comet crashes can be blamed on poor jetliner conversion training whereas the crashes of 1954 can not be blamed on the basic design of the De-Havilland Comet which was sound and De-Havilland knew about pressurisation It is more the fault of the wrong construction methods and the metal fatigue phenomenon that was not well understood in the 50s As it should be kept in mind until the British Comet, no one had built a jetliner before the comet so there was a lot that was not understood, the comet 1 used square with rounded corners not square windows

[@PavelKostromitinov]

Tu-104 carrying 19 million passengers? You can' really name it 'useless'. Horribly dangerous - yes, but it was build and was in service for quite a long time.

[@littleshopofelectrons4014]

Elon Musk is a perfect example of why expertise in one area does not necessarily translate to other areas.

[@justlisten82]

It's like when Michael Jordan went to play baseball... stay in your lane

[@popuptarget7386]

Like Bill Gates the microbiologist?

[@QBCPerdition]

Very true, but I can't help but wonder why, if he was so sold on the Hyperloop idea, he gave it away. It almost seems like he knew it wouldn't work, but wanted people to waste time and money on it anyway.

[@andy2950]

Multibillionaries don't have to be experts.....they just employ people that are. Elon is lucky, very lucky. Unfortunately for humanity, in him, we have a billionaire with the mind of a petulant teenager.

[@joellewis6086]

@@andy2950 So the content and execution of covid policies, content moderation policies, and interaction with intelligence agencies of social media are cochure and present nothing worth opposing? And since Egon above me asked: Multiple accounts quote those who have worked with Elon as describing him a highly intelligent sponge of information, he was and remains SpaceX's chief engineer and early fundraising included personally answering detailed technical questions about his rocket's performance in real time to technologically educated investors, and SpaceX and Tesla - his two most prominent companies - share the same philosophy of development, corporate architecture, and continuous multi tiered, long term development, reflecting the personal philosophy of the common element of Elon Musk. Also - do you honestly cotton that the chief executive and driver of the short, medium, and long term business plans of two companies that have successfully and fully disrupted two of the most expensive, politically connected, long established, and largely stagnant industries on the planet just happened to 'get lucky'? That sounds slightly unlikely.

[@bafanadikana3720]

When money is no object, sense is disabled

[@UKMacMan]

Hospitals in the UK use nematic mail systems to sent samples to the labs.

[@racefan2k3]

Uh... Double Star by RAH was a novel and it was more about politics and how if a significant leader is poisoned/disabled, how a doppelganger could be used to take his place. Pneumatic tube travel was never a real part of the story that I recall, although it has been a few minutes since I read that particular book. Now the novel he wrote in 1982, Friday, did mention pneumatic tube travel and also included ballistic point to point Earth travel and the "Beanstalk" which was used to transport people from the Earth to the Moon via an 'elevator'.

[@bob456fk6]

Pneumatic tubes on a small scale are useful. My bank uses tubes to transfer documents and money between the drive-up stations and the main office. The large scale Hyperloop is so preposterous I don't see which it's even being mentioned.

[@TP-om8of]

I use hydraulics tubes to get rid of my poo.

[@MrChriss000]

Musk is a funny guy. He decided electric cars in narrow tunnels was more profound than it sounds.

[@BabyMakR]

Everyone always seems to overlook why Musk does things like Hyperloop and it's quite sad.

[@change_your_oil_regularly4287]

Those trucks are carrying significantly more than the tonnage quoted

[@majstor76]

Expecting lots od elon chads, defending their lord

[@majstor76]

@@Tonysopranoyafinook I am not hater, i think he has done some nice jobs like with SpaceX, but most of the time he just wildly overpromises and has some dubious projects (like Tesla Bot). Not to mention he sank twitter

[@AL-lh2ht]

@@Tonysopranoyafinook this is a really funny statement. Touch grass

[@maxdanielj]

You were unfortunately correct. Lot's of insecurity and projection showing up

[@maxdanielj]

@@Tonysopranoyafinook it's not being a hater if someone recognizes reality instead of kissing the modern day PT Barnum's butt

[@beverleyjackson5618]

Our son lives in Dubai on the palm and it is more amazing than described HOWEVER you are correct SIMON with the WORLD ISLANDS. They took fortunes in advanced from private enterprises and large corporations to own a specific country island then ran out of money and stopped building. Our son a d his family take their boat out to different ones for BBQs. Lol

[@professormicron6470]

Tu-104: I am the most useless soviet megaproject plane Tu-144: Allow me to introduce myself

[@Luubelaar]

Just a look through some of the planes Russia has designed or actually built over the years shows that they're completely bonkers. Completely utterly insane things that somehow defy physics by actually becoming airborne. Most of them not staying that way for long though.

[@billotto602]

This is the most hilarious posts of yours I've ever seen ! Thanks Simon !

[@Plaprad]

I'm gonna go the unpopular route and say something about Musk that isn't "He sucks". I don't think he cares. He doesn't care about revolutionizing trains. Nor internet, or anything else. Besides Twitter, and a couple smaller projects, everything he's done is for one purpose. Colonizing Mars. New reusable rockets, great for getting to Mars. Hyperloop, useless here, may work on a smaller scale on Mars. Starlink, not great internet here, but would connect many remote colonies on Mars. Tesla, revolutionized EV on Earth, and once developed fully, would be great on Mars where IC engines won't work. If you look at what he does as "Making money on Earth", it's stupid and makes no sense. When you take his "I want to die on Mars, just not on landing." quote at face value, a lot of his stuff makes far more sense. Though, I'm convinced his "Not a flamethrower" and purchase of Twitter were both just his way of shitposting.

[@AL-lh2ht]

lol

[@maxdanielj]

Surprisingly I actually think it's more unpopular to think he's not full of crap

[@EvilGav]

Tesla didn't revolutionise EVs. They have good marketing. The cars do no more than the GM EV-1 from 1996, they just have an advantage that technology moved on from when that car was released. And importantly, Musk had nothing to do with the company starting up, he just bought an existing company and insisted he got called "founder" - he also managed to get billions in funding from the US government for his toy car project. And if you are spending all your money burning through the resources of one planet to colonise another, you are absolutely the last person that should be colonising another planet.

[@rixxroxxk1620]

We need the Tu-104 as the official jet of The US government.

[@briand.reynolds474]

You have been elected, lol!!

[@wilfredpayne433]

The main issue with any of these "megaprojects" is that people aren't unanimously on board with them... some people have to ride trains that still just have a freaking hole in the floor for a bathroom....fix those issues first elon...then maybe everyone would get "onboard" and with the massive amount of extra support, effort and money some of these highly ambitious projects might become reality...

[@user-tt5xj5ib1e]

The Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives lists Aeroflot as top for all-time fatalities, with 11,308 by comparison Air France is second among civil operators with 1,752. I think I might just catch a train ...... 🤔😮

[@superdingo9741]

But you've forgot to mention that Aeroflot was *the only* soviet operator that served all the aircraft types from the small planes like An-2 and helicopters Mi-2 to heavy airliners and frights. So it should be compared not to Air France alone, but to ALL French air companies COMBINED (including already non-existing). Just to remind, as of 2019 there were 660 enterprises in the air transport industry of France.

[@gabriellashimone6546]

Yes, the more I watch things like this, the less hope I have for humanity.

[@DescartesRenegade]

You don't need to keep it in a vacuum, you just need to keep the airflow in the direction of travel faster than the train. The idea is just to minimize drag.

[@galaticemperor9881]

Nothing is crazy about looking into an old idea on occasion. Actually building it when all the problems are not yet solved would have been a bad idea.

[@stephanspielmann240]

about 20+ years ago I regularly bought a popular science journal. "Hyperloop" was better thought about back thanm then all Elon or his companies added to that idea.

[@sdlcman1]

In order to field a jet airliner in an extreme hurry, the Tupolev design bureau took the Tu-16 "Badger" strategic bomber, with it's aggressively swept wings and put a bigger, pressurized fuselage on it. The sweep of the wings made for a higher landing speed. There was also problems of weight and balance. Bombs don't move aound in flight until they dropped and don't have luggage. The elevators often lacked the authority to recover from an uncommanded steep pitch-up of the nose.

[@jeremyhall349]

Am I the only one that pictured Rick Moranis saying "Prepare for ludacris speed."?

[@tonikaihola5408]

A pharmacy in Helsinki Finland uses these pneumatic tubes to send medicine from storage to the store floor on demand.

[@satutoivonen9679]

Loads of pharmacies use them all over Finland. Hospitals, supermarkets and factories too. And I'm guessing the same is true all over Europe, we're a pretty integrated continent technology wise. I've used a pneumatic tube at the Stockmann department store in Helsinki city centre. It's used there to send cash to and from the tills. The pneumatic tube is really handy when sending light objects across small distances.

[@tonikaihola5408]

@@satutoivonen9679 ah yes I’ve seen them at supermarket checkouts as well 👍

[@MisterSplendy]

Fantastic video. Hyperloop FTL!

[@oliver6287]

I never get the notification for your new videos

[@chrism7395]

You can still see some of the pump houses built by Brunel for his Atmospheric Railway in places like Starcross and Torquay, UK

[@craigskinner8489]

I believe a passenger was killed within the last few years on a Southwest Airlines flight when the window failed. However, yes, air travel is amazingly safe.

[@paulthepainter2366]

I appreciate your courage and honesty

[@jrbeeler4626]

Just when you asked what form of public transit was selected, an ad for "Scream" starts....

[@a24396]

So... If you take a Hyperloop pod, put wings and an engine on it, and launch it above most of the atmosphere you get an airplane. We've had them for a while.

[@BasilRathbone-ny3st]

Heh, always loved the salon discussion on hyperloop. Which is the point.

[@user-se5rz5jf6b]

Would have been great if he mentioned the development of weather issues, including cloud formation, in the Berg.

[@apinakapina]

It's like Adam Something's usual point of "just build a fucking train", but presented by Simon :D There's also one more practical issue, at least on a continent like Europe with fairly few mostly empty places. You need to build a fairly straight tube to achieve the speeds, and planning that would probably bumb into yet another village every 10 kilometers or so. If BER airport only needed to get rid of one and that postponed the project by a decade, take a guess how feasible this thing will be.

[@anthonylloyd6094]

"A sceptical observer, definitely not us" LOL

[@MultiWalrus1]

Brilliant video, hilarious and informative.

[@randomramblings2325]

Great video, please do another follow up