The Boring Company’s tiny Las Vegas Loop is all that’s come of Musk’s promises to build superfast mass-transit “hyperloops.” Workers say its tunnels are packed with chemical sludge.

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The [tunnel’s] accelerants cure the grout that seals the tunnel’s concrete supports, helping the grout set properly and protecting the work against cracks and other deterioration. They also seriously burn exposed human skin. At the Encore dig site, such burns became almost routine, workers there told Nevada’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. An investigation by the state OSHA, which Bloomberg Businessweek has obtained via a freedom of information request, describes workers being scarred permanently on their arms and legs. According to the investigation, at least one employee took a direct hit to the face. In an interview with Businessweek, one of the tunnel workers recalls the feeling of exposure to the chemicals: “You’d be like, ‘Why am I on fire?’”

  • frog 🐸@beehaw.orgEnglish
    28·
    10 months ago

    I wasn’t overly familiar with this project, but now that I’ve read up on it… what in the actual fuck? You could offer me the entirety of Elon Musk’s hoard wealth and it would still not be enough to convince me to step foot in that claustophobic death trap.

    The thing that really strikes me is that there seems to be very little difference between Musk going “I know how to build transport tunnels better than any of the countless engineers who have built them before!” and that Titan submarine guy going “I know how to build deep sea submersibles better than any of the countless engineers who have built them before!” And it seems likely that Musk’s death trap will have a similar ending, only Musk won’t be inside it at the time. Techbros seem incredibly unwilling to consider that there are often reasons why things are built the way they are.

    • jarfil@beehaw.org
      11·
      10 months ago

      You have to look at the bigger picture: Musk’s “I know how to build a colony on Mars better than anyone!”

      That requires:

      • SpaceX: cheap reusable rockets (done)
      • StarLink: planet-wide communication network (almost done)
      • SpaceX: mass human space transport (in progress)
      • Boring: tunnels for the colony (in progress)
      • Tesla: non-fossil fuel cars, like electric (done)
      • Hyperloop: transport in a low density atmosphere (proof of concept, good enough)
      • Neuralink: robot capable of up to brain surgery (in progress)
      • Square Roots: indoor farming (done, by Elon’s brother)
      • [Name pending]: indentured labour volunteers willing to work for the privilege (tons of applicants already)

      There are some other details missing, and maybe there are other projects I’m not aware of, but the general plan is pretty clear.

        • jarfil@beehaw.org
          3·
          10 months ago

          Imagine the roaming costs on Mars… one liners is all most will be able to aff [message too long]

      • frog 🐸@beehaw.orgEnglish
        5·
        10 months ago

        He thinks he knows how to build a colony on Mars better than anyone. He hasn’t considered that maybe there are good reasons why it hasn’t been done yet. His first colony will be a death trap.

        • aardA
          5·
          10 months ago

          His first colony will be a death trap.

          That’s a feature, not a bug. His family got rich with mines in south africa, exploiting the locals. For getting more rich by mining mars you’ll have to bring your own locals to exploit, and there’s no need to make it to comfortable for them.

          • frog 🐸@beehaw.orgEnglish
            1·
            10 months ago

            If he’s living in it as well, it could just as easily become a death trap for him.

        • jarfil@beehaw.org
          2·
          10 months ago

          He’s planning it mostly as a one-way trip, sort of a “live the rest of your life taming the wilderness” pitch. It isn’t all that different from the colonizing that went on Earth, and even the casualties might not be much higher.

        • jarfil@beehaw.org
          1·
          10 months ago

          Good point, although I think they’re planning something nuclear powered, like for the Moon.

      • billhicksghost@beehaw.org
        2·
        10 months ago

        A rocket is just a truck. A fleet of trucks don’t build or make possible whatever we dream them to carry.

        A giant truck doesn’t meet all demands. Starlink is just the Internet and does not count towards the existing, now saturated “market”.

        https://youtu.be/Om90htezXLk?si=cPV3vVKVIlkKB5T1

        https://youtu.be/kM0gD4-zTT8?si=t1-QPOKuQ2CSzRw5

        https://youtu.be/FNt_SyJjNGw?si=SnpUnW_CZK93ZBl1 (Parts 1 & 2, etc are also sanity.)

        Neurolink was an existing company, it’s founder quit in shame after they faked/stole existing research. His own professor, the leading expert in the field, declared it all bunk with the metaphor “Elon Musk couldn’t find a brain of he tried”.

        https://youtu.be/p8NiM_p8n5A?si=bCtDVkLL546je8rV

        Musk is a sociopath hijacking reality so real issues are ignored.

        • jarfil@beehaw.org
          1·
          10 months ago

          Sorry, but that’s too many ragebait videos, and I’m not going to debunk them one by one.

          Neuralink has been FDA approved for human trials, and had its first subject implanted in January 2024. Whether it’s going to end up in “death from uncontrollable vomiting”, remains to be seen.

          Musk is a sociopath

          A businessman. 🤷

      • eveninghere@beehaw.org
        1·
        10 months ago

        How would people on Mars even claim their rights? I never heard a country recognize their own jurisdiction on Mars.

        If Musk enslaves these people, not return them to earth, etc., how can they stop that from Mars?

        • jarfil@beehaw.org
          1·
          10 months ago

          Poorly. There would have to be a revolution after a generation or two, might take longer.