The establishment vs Uber

[kandrathe]

'We' (as in citizens, joe jane q public) do get asked to pick up the tab, in one way or another, in a sly nudge nudge wink wink kind of way. The hyperloop Cancon edition article you linked, mentions that the CEO is trying to attract govt investors as well. Then again if I was the CEO I'd do the same thing.

Anyhow, what happens when an agreement\contract is not even worth the paper it's written on, even in advance, ROFLcopter, that's even assuming there was one.

We're still going to see lawsuits, and unscrupulous players on either side. No changes there I'm afraid.

Hope of hopes, the whiz kids who dreamed up this outsourcing everything to the max, will be outsourced themselves in the next election cycle.

We agree in part I suspect. I think having standing armies leads to more conflicts (it's too easy to use them when they're sitting around waiting for a skirmish), and a worse scenario would be to outsource our fights to mercenaries. Imagine a world where large private armies are ready to go whenever they're paid, and to do whatever they're hired to do. It's already happening in a smaller way. There are some things that are integral to government that you really want government to be held accountable for, like armies, regulatory oversight, and anything you want to keep secret (e.g. Snowden).

Now in the general concept however, I'm quite on the same page with you that ideally, gov't and business can have a win\win relationship.

However if it isn't working out, we might consider the option of not playing, at least this particular round. (I don't mean skipping out on taxes. Had to write that for the literally minded among us.)

While it can be satisfying to yell 'gov't is -them-'. 'Evil MegaCorps is -them-'. The tab will still be on -you-. And me. And possibly Dupree. But eff Dupree, he always stiffs his share of the tip.

I think we agree here too. Joe taxpayer doesn't get line item veto, so we really just need to Hope™ our elected politicians are good deal makers on our behalf.

What I'd hope to avoid are the cases where gov't just ends up subsidizing private enterprises in perpetuity, or where gov't just builds an agency that could be replaced by a private function in perpetuity.

I do think there might still be a window to address climate change, as our 'Moonshot' project. But it's a window that might be, rapidly closing.

If or when that window closes, well there's always war like you rightly pointed out. Wars can also bring about massive technological advancement. But at horrid costs. Unless, it's outsourced. Then go get em boys!

I believe we'll see that Nature has a way of pushing us back onto the rails. I think there are good reasons why we have the climate we do have within a slim range of variation. It might just be that the likely scenario is that nature kills us off, or tries really hard to do so.

As Lochnar and Kevin have correctly pointed out, batteries tech and recharging infrastructure is a big challenge at the moment.

So, well, yes. Here is an area where some targeted research money, and tax incentives would be a "good" investment for the society at large. The private sector needs help to offset a large cost to make the new infrastructure available. Joe gas station owner is hard pressed to maintain a gasoline delivery infrastructure -- how do we convince them to offer the new infrastructure. Also, this is somewhat chicken and egg problem -- there will be some time when there are not enough customers to sustain a refueling center.

Refer back to the above; What I'd hope to avoid are the cases where gov't just ends up subsidizing private enterprises in perpetuity, or where gov't just builds an agency that could be replaced by a private function in perpetuity.

The timing needs to be right, and we need to not do what happened with ethanol (back the wrong solution). Average consumers, like me, cannot afford the e-car Ferrari edition. I need the sticker price to be closer to the gasoline engine, and I would also want the refueling infrastructure to be in place (at least within my metropolitan area). Here in MN, as it is there in Canada, reliable transportation is a necessity, where an unreliable vehicle that has run out of juice can be deadly when it's -20F.

What I see is that vision of this future, leadership to get there, and a good sell to the public are required. Then a rational plan can be formed that is shared with the whole of society. Hopefully, one that we can get behind, and move towards. Before we are killed by violent storms.