{"id":46527,"date":"2017-05-01T16:28:40","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T20:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=46527"},"modified":"2017-05-02T08:23:17","modified_gmt":"2017-05-02T12:23:17","slug":"dear-mr-musk-will-boring-tunnel-available-every-economic-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/dear-mr-musk-will-boring-tunnel-available-every-economic-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Mr. Musk, Will Your Boring Tunnel Be Available to Every Economic Class?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Mr. Musk,<\/p>\n

How are you? I’ve been a big fan of yours ever since I became aware of your plan <\/a>to help “expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy.” I know we need systemic assistance to reroute our\u00a0everyday life habits which contribute to anthropogenic climate change. \u00a0Your vision of all-electric cars<\/a>, roofs<\/a> that convert solar energy into electricity, and a sustainable energy system<\/a> that can allow people to self-power their homes and even go off grid is really breathtaking. I’ve been totally in awe of your capacity to envision change for a long time.<\/p>\n

So, when I learned that you were to be a featured speaker at TED 2017: The Future You<\/a> conference in Vancouver, I was excited. I wondered what you would discuss in order to connect to the conference’s promise to \u201cexplore the most pressing questions of our time and to imagine what our shared future might look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"boring<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: Courtesy of TED<\/p>\n

Chris Anderson, the Head Curator for TED, started off your dialogue together\u00a0by asking you, “Why are you so boring?<\/a>” You responded to him by saying:<\/p>\n

“We’re trying to dig a hole under LA, and this is to create the beginning of what will hopefully be a 3D network of tunnels to alleviate congestion. So right now, one of the most soul-destroying things is traffic. It affects people in every part of the world. It takes away so much of your life. It’s horrible.” — Elon Musk, TED 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

Your idea for a boring tunnel has been in the news <\/a>since December, 2016, when you tweeted that you were “going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging.” At TED 2017, you described the key elements of a 3D tunnel network: integrating the entrance and exit of the tunnel seamlessly into the fabric of the city, having an elevator that is like a car skate, and operating at high speeds, which, in the case of your boring tunnel, may be 200 kilometers\/ 130 miles an hour. It’s a fascinating feat of design and would be revolutionary if executed.<\/p>\n

Mr. Musk, um, I must also admit that I’m a bit concerned here that your boring tunnel may fail to meld with the greater social good. I do appreciate how you included the visualization as part of your TED presentation so we could begin to make the cognitive leap from idea to conceptual implementation.<\/p>\n