Ok, I'm kinda jumping ahead of myself. I was going to write a blog about infrastructure change, (but if you've talked to me lately, you've already hear me rant about this), but I'm going to jump ahead and talk about one of the things wrong with today's infrastructure, and offer a completely insane Justin idea.
Quick run down on the infrastructure idea. Basically what's wrong with the world is that we've evolved technologically. Computers, cell phones, etc., but our infrastructure/modus operandi, hasn't changed.
(Not asking where my flying car is)
We keep thinking inside the box. We keep making modifications of things that we've created 100, 1000, 10000, etc. years ago.
SO! Part 1. Cars.
We're trying to make cars "green" by making them use different fuels. Which in it's self is like changing the color of your room.
The first automobile, or self-propelled mechanical vehicle, was made in 1769. Then in the late 1800's we got something that looked like a car, and then well ford came along and the rest is history. That's over 200 years of the same old same old.
Someone needs to come up with something new. We've been reliant on gas and all that shit because no one's thinking outside the box. Now people are coming up with hybrids, and hydrogen power vehicles, and vehicles running on cooking fuel.
Yeah, we should have thought about this shit 50+ years ago. Time to move on, time to come up with something new. Instead of changing the color of something inefficient, let's reinvent it.
I know, now a lot of you are probably thinking "Well we've been calling for flying cars for YEARS" or "but we have all these roads, and it'd cost too much to change the infrastructure"
What if we didn't change much, but changed a lot?
Meaning, what if we took a car and modified it to run as a gas/electric/hydrogen powered vehicle as we know it, but turned it into a hybrid maglev vehicle?
Insanity? Yes. It's my idea, and I'd like to see more people with ideas other than what we've got.
Now, I'm TOTALLY looking for discussion, and shoot my idea down, or better yet - Use it as a stepping off point for your own idea, and let's get the ball rolling.
Here's what I'm thinking. You have your standard car, still looks, smells, and runs the same. Still has 4 wheels, a radio, and a dead body in the trunk. But! You outfit the undercarriage with magnets. EMS (Electromagnetic suspension), EDS (electrodynamic), Inductrack (Permanent Magnet EDS). Essentially the same technologies they're working on for trains.
Before you go running away thinking I'm all cock-eyed, and CRAZY! (Which I am, fact) Let me finish my rough concept here.
Say you're tootling along on the roads in your car, still drives essentially the same! Nothing's changed in your neighborhood.
BUT!
When you get on the highway, your 2 lane highway now has a conventional lane, and a maglev lane. You get on the highway same as usual, but you can then merge onto the maglev lane. The maglev kicks in, your wheels go into neutral or whatever, and you're propelled down the highway at faster speeds than you normally would. Your car could conceivably be controlled by the highway it's self. Much like a stop light can turn colors through a little thing called electrcity... You could stop a car on a maglev the same way. Traffic controlled automatically, meaning you could conceivably have traffic on a maglev lane going 80-90 miles an hour (or more. Maglevs can reach the potential of 4000 miles an hour, but you know some god damned granny would only be doing 2000miles)
I'm totally jumping ahead with this idea. Ok
Here's the way I envision it
You have step on, and step off points onto the maglev lane. The lane it's self otherwise has barriers. JUST LIKE the divided highway barriers we have now. You tootle along, propelled down this lane, conceivably controlled by the circuits on the road it's self, or on your car's computer WHICH CARS ALREADY HAVE, AND ARE NOW BEING OUTFITTED WITH COMPUTERS AT THIS MOMENT! Listen to my goddamned radio show, I JUST talked about how they're puttin them in hardcore to boost car sales. Look for it this year or next. AT&T, and other companies are coming up with mobile entertainment systems, and real time traffic systems. Couple that with gps, and you have every car tracked on this rail system. That's with existing technology! (You could possibly even incorporate a magnetic buffer between two cars, but identically charging someone's front bumper, with the other car's rear. Don't know how much more energy it'd take to do that, so I don't seriously suggest it at this time)
So you have cars controlled on this damned thing, shooting along at speeds that would normally get you a hefty ticket. What about the power, and the infrastructure? We're talking a major overhaul.
Nope. The electrical lines are all right here. Think about the overhead lights on the highways. There's power there. Think about the power poles that line the sides of highways. There's power there.
Now, you're saying "but there's not enough power. Cars are heavy, it's going to take a lot of power to move them along"
There is, cause again... Were thinking out side the box... A way to make cars lighter!
Why, do you really need a 700 hp motor now that when you're actually speeding, or merging, you're using a different system? No. Smaller motor = less weight.
There is the magnet weight of course, but that could be offset by changing the composition of the body of the car from metal, to a synthetic (if you install a buffer like I was saying, or a intuitive traffic/obstacle sensing technology... WHICH THEY'RE ALREADY PUTTING IN CARS. LISTEN TO MY GODDAMNED SHOW), or make the metal in the car the magnet it's self. Crazy, out there. Probably fucked-up completely insane crack pot science. Not possible.
At least I'm thinking about alternatives.
Furthermore...
You conceivably have the power (and I'm using "conceivably" a lot, because you actually have to conceive new ideas. Really. You do. Try it! It makes things better) existing, on or near the roads
You have roads, and the space, you just lay the shit on top of it, or integrate it right into the road. (Concept?) You start by converting highways, and only say a lane. People can travel by conventional means on the side roads.
So what's the real impact to the infrastructure?
Just that new jobs would be created, traffic would speed along quicker, (New York NY to Portalnd OR by car in 24 or less hours anybody? -Possibly even sleeping while your car drives? Insane, I know)
Yeah, I don't know. I've got one foot in the box on that one. Someone needs to just come up with a radical idea that doesn't utilize anything we've created, or thinking. No flying cars, no teleports. Something radical, new, mind blowing. Much like if someone showed someone a t.v. to someone living in biblical times. We need more completely new ideas/concepts/INSANITY! No more new versions of what we already have. History has shown SEQUELS SUCK!
Thinking caps people.
Talk to me about my insane idea. Give me yours. Pass it along. This is a fucking cartoonist's idea, with no scientific background. Just what I've picked up reading.
I know already that my idea suffers from a few flaws. 1. cost. 2. weather (How would you take care of snow on the track? or how would weather affect this?) 3. I'm spouting off about things that are only about 30 years old.
History has shown, that things must be 200+ years to be proven effective, and widely used.
Seriously, I'm tired, I'm now incoherently ranting. We need more options/ideas/thinkers. What we have now isn't working, and all people are doing is trying to adapt what we've been doing wrong for that last hundreds of years, to something slightly less wrong.
We need radical infrastructure change, we need to apply technology to all aspects of our lives. We, meaning me, needs to go to bed.
Love always,
Justin
