The Mad Scientist and his Fabulous Hyperloop: Go Big, Elon, Go Big

Elon Musk is the world's favorite Mad Scientist. The co-founder of Space X and Tesla Motors refuses to dream small. As if bringing commercial space travel into the realm of financial viability, converting the auto industry from internal combustion to electric power, and building an infrastructure support system ambitious enough to support cross-continent electric-powered travel isn't enough, Musk is now proselytizing The Hyperloop, a super high speed transportation loop connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles. Who else has the guts, not to mention the billions, to dream this big? Thank goodness for Elon Musk
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The technology that powers the Hyperloop is surprisingly simple (meaning that I read Musk's report and felt like I understood it). First, build a tubular track on raised pylons from San Francisco to Los Angeles along the I-5 corridor. Reduce the atmospheric pressure inside the tube to reduce wind drag. Line the track with linear accelerators (essentially electric motors stretched out flat) for propulsion every 70 miles or so. Finally, drop in people carrying pods that ride on a cushion of compressed air at speeds around 750 miles per hour. There you have it, the recipe for the 45 minute trip across California.

But the technology itself is only part of what makes the Hyperloop so amazing. Anyone with a background in physics and aerodynamics can draft up a sketch and some numbers that move a lot of people from Point A to Point B really quickly. What is so amazing about the Hyperloop is that so many people are taking it seriously. How does Musk get people to perk up and listen when he proposes the heretofore impossible?

The answer is that his ability to create substantive conversation around all of the highly ambitious and controversial topics that he champions, in large measure comes down to his unapologetic belief that progress should be awesome. For example, can you imagine the front man for NASA or GE or any other firm that churns out big-time technology advances saying something like this in a project proposal:

Short of figuring out real teleportation, which would of course be awesome
(someone please do this), the only option for super fast travel is to build a tube
over or under the ground that contains a special environment.

Take the Tesla Model S, for example. Musk isn't the only one trying to convert us to electric cars. But what the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, Fisker Karma, and all the other electric cars out there have in common is an abundance of half-measures. The Nissan Leaf is slow, feels like an economy box, and has battery range that seriously limits its viability as an alternative to gasoline. The Chevy Volt does better than the Nissan here, but it cuts corners by dropping a gasoline engine into the mix to charge up the batteries (look for this same option on the upcoming BMW i3 and i8). The Fisker Karma is replete with luxury, technology, and outstanding performance, but it is not a true electric vehicle. It too utilizes an internal combustion engine to power the electric motors which turn the wheels, as it was developed in tandem with the technology in the Chevy Volt. What Musk does differently is insist that progress progress. What Tesla has done with the Model S and what the Hyperloop would do for transportation is say that none of the technology we are currently using gets grandfathered in to the technology we are building for tomorrow. Tesla doesn't extend battery life with a hundred year old internal combustion motor. Instead, they build a network of solar powered charging stations across the country that let you cruise from coast to coast. The Hyperloop isn't a reconfigured light rail train or overly ambitious monorail. Nor is it a way to take our existing transportation models and incorporate them into a new technology. It has no ties to anything we are currently using, which is exactly why it is so delicious to the media, and so endlessly marketable. What makes Musk so incredibly attractive is that he doesn't offer us products that are new, he offers us ideas and values that have been around for ages, only he makes us believe that they are not only possible, but that they are the only acceptable direction to move in. Anything less than awesome is just, well, sad.

Everybody Loves Rachel...Sort of

Who is the most popular woman in America? Tough question to answer; let's set some parameters. First, she has to be ubiquitous, recognizable by everyone. Lot's of women meet that criteria. Second, the vast majority of Americans must have a strong opinion of her, one way or the other. Care to render a guess? No, I'm not talking about Hillary Clinton, although she is the strong runner up. I'm talking about Rachel. You know, Rachel? I know that you know Rachel, everybody does. She calls us all the time. Rachel from Cardholder Services. In fact, she called me again this morning. She usually calls me once or twice a week. How often does she call you? Are you guys on a first name basis too? Does she have your home and cell number? She does? Wow, she is one well connected woman.

So what do you actually know about Rachel? I learned a few interesting tidbits about her this morning. First of all, she has a tenacious work ethic. Did you know that Rachel made over 2.6 billion phone calls over a six month period? That's 167 calls per second, twenty four hours per day, weekends and holidays included. Another thing you might not know about Rachel; her consulting services are for hire. It's unclear just how many company's employ her familiar voice, but her largest client, SBN, got shut down last year by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and my phone hasn't stopped ringing. In fact, the FTC would love to put all of Rachel's clients out of business, but identifying them is tricky business.

The last thing I learned about Rachel today is perhaps the most useful. Did you know that you really are not completely  powerless to make Rachel stop calling? It's true, I hope. Whenever Rachel calls me she asks me to stay on the line and speak with one of her representatives. Most people don't. I usually do. Someone answers the phone and asks if I'm calling about consolidating my credit card debt and I say, "No, will you please put me on your do not ca***click**" and the line goes dead. If you haven't tried it, you should. Their record is perfect, 100%. I have never got the entire phrase "on your do not call list" out of my mouth before the representative hangs up on me. So what can you do about it? I'm already on the national Do Not Call Registry. A lot of good that does. But did you know that you can lodge a complaint? I know, big deal, like that every gets results. That's what I thought too. But then I read this statement by Frank Dorman, spokesman for the FTC who runs the Do Not Call Registry:

It only takes a minute to enter it. We need the complaints to look for patterns. We then use those in developing enforcement cases.

So according to the FTC, your complaints are actually helpful. And it makes sense. Rachel's clients use a technique called spoofing that switches up the info that you see on your caller ID (that explains why Rachel travels so much. One day she calls from Missouri, then Kansas, then Nevada). All those phony numbers make it difficult for law enforcement to track down where the calls are coming from, but the more people who lodge complaints, the more data they have to draw patterns from.

So go ahead, complain. This may be the only time in your life that you can actually feel good about whining. I started this morning and it felt good. And I'm going to keep complaining every time Rachel calls. Hopefully we see Rachel's popularity decline. Although, politicians are exempt from the laws that prohibit Rachel from calling. If Hillary does run for office in 2016, she may very well pull ahead in the popularity race, at least by my definition of popularity.