Quote:
Originally Posted by Hayward
Mankind has not produced anything as complicated as this. We aren't talking spacecraft, airplanes, or small devices that are built in controlled envionments. We are talking about big systems that transport people and freight. Freeways and rail as expensive as they are will be slow, but reliable.
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Actually, we have built things along this line of complexity and precision. Actually, much moreso: the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.
17 miles underground for $9 billion, with tolerances of what, nanometers? Ok probably not, but still. It does require a guideway system, essentially a tunnel-within-a-tunnel.
The LHC cost $529 million/mile, so a 4,000 km system built to the same tolerances would cost ~$2.1 trillion. Surprisingly affordable for a nation such as the United States or the EU, as it is a fraction of GDP.