• Wogi@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Ok, so each person is a little less than 20% carbon, so a pile of 177 bodies would contain about 2000 kilos of carbon.

        A 1 carat round cut diamond has 0.2 grams of carbon and is about 5mm in diameter.

        So what is that, 2 million diamonds? It would be a pile about the size of a car?

        • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          There’s some weird assumptions being made here–for example, a cremated body would not end up as a 13kg pile of carbon, almost all of it would be lost–but most of your basic facts are correct. The number of humans is actually 200 (there were 177 cars).

          If you did somehow extract all ~13kg of carbon from each of the 200 passengers pictured, you’d end up with 2,590,000 grams of pure carbon dust. If you then formed that into a single diamond, you’d get an object quite a lot smaller than a car. I couldn’t find a way to calculate the size of a diamond from a known mass (apart from doing a bunch of algebra, and I didn’t want to), so I used https://www.omnicalculator.com/other/diamond-carat and put in some ballpark numbers for diameter and depth until I got close to the target mass.

          I ended up at a sphere of diamond about 128cm in diameter. Still a big fuckin diamond, but you could put a bunch of those into one car, and it would be a lot smaller than the satirical pile of cremains in the meme.

          • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Ok, so each person is a little less than 20% carbon, so a pile of 177 bodies would contain about 2000 kilos of carbon.

            Dont forget that almost all of that carbon will be lost as CO2 during oxidation.

            • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              You probably meant to reply to the parent comment, as this is one of the “weird assumptions” I explicitly called out (that almost all of the carbon would be lost).

    • deus@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Case in point: Star Trek’s transporters, which pretend to be teleporters but probably just atomize you while building an identical clone somewhere else.

      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s literally the case. There’s two Rikers running around because the transporter malfunctioned one time.

        • SkinnyTimmy@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Nah that’s because they locked a second “transporter beam” onto the pattern while it was in transit, thus basically making a copy. Normally it’s supposed to turn your matter into energy in a specific pattern, then move that energy to another location and turn it into matter again.

          Now, in my opinion, in our universe, the end result is the same - your continuous consciousness is interrupted/ended and an identical copy of you is created somewhere else. But we’re talking about the star trek universe, where thoughts are apparently at the very basis of physics and can directly influence the universe, especially anything to do with “subspace”. So it’s safe to say that consciousness exists on an additional, metaphysical layer other than just your corporeal form.

          Also, there are multiple cases of people being turned into “pure energy” and retaining their consciousness somehow, so I dont see how a transporter would necessarily be different.

          • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Honestly, Star Trek isn’t good enough scifi for me to think too hard about this problem. None of the writers seem to really think about the large implications of transporter and replicator tech. You may get an episode about using the transporter buffers to smuggle refugees, but then the concept wont come back up.

            Better examples of world building with replicator tech would be Diamond Age or the Bobiverse books. Both have thought out limitations that prevent casual replication of living animals.

    • Comment105@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      The ideal form of transportation is Indian-style trainpacking.

      You can disregard comfort when transporting the communityfolks, but beyond that point the pressure becomes too lethal.
      Yes, too lethal. The pressure is already lethal. But within acceptable limits.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    How do you get three elephants into a mini?

    You chop them in half. Then you chop them in half again. Then you slice them up very finely. Then you mash them. Then you put them in plastic bags. You put some in the boot, you put some in the back seat, and what’s left over you put on the passenger seat.

  • Nougat@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Some things which have always annoyed me about the original panels:

    • People walking cannot go nearly as far as they can on a bus or in a car, and any kind of real distance travelled is very slow.
    • Public transit is also much slower than a car, door to door, when taking into account the first and last legs to get you from your start to public transit, and from public transit to your destination.
    • People on a bus must all go along the exact same route.
    • Most people in the US do not live where there are robust public transit options.
    • In dense urban areas, lots of people from all walks of life make use of public transit.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favor of public transit, more of it, and in more places. But, fuck, it’s not the travelers’ fault that it’s not always the best option (or in suburbs and rural areas, often not an option at all).

      • DillyDaily@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Exactly. I haven’t met a single person who simultaneously thinks “fuck cars” and “we should get rid of cars tomorrow”

        At the moment, there’s no way most people could get rid of cars.

        I say this as someone who has never had a licence (too disabled to drive), I’ve always relied on walking, cycling or bus/train.

        The way most places in my country (Australia) are set up, you need access to a car. Ideally, your own car or a shared family car.

        I don’t have that luxury, I’ve built my life around making that work for me. I’ve chosen my career based on it, I’m forced to choose where I rent based on it, I have to turn down invitations to events I want to attend because of it, unless a driving friend is attending, or it’s not ludicrously expensive to uber - but neither is the solution to our current infrastructure’a dependency on cars.

        There are so many options for good infrastructure and systems of public and private transport, but the current rate of implementation means those who can drive are practically forced to, and those that can’t are at a genuine disadvantage compared to driving peers.

    • li10@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      Are the original panels disputing any of that?

      It’s just to give some perspective about how efficient public transport can be when compared with the number of cars required to transport the same number of people.

      • Nougat@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        The subtext is that all the people in the cars (and only one per car, for that matter, which is definitely common, but not universal) are going to the exact same destination from the exact same starting point, at the same time, and that there is a public transit route that travels between the two places at the time everyone wants to travel, because that’s the only way the comparison is honest.

        As above, I want more public transit in more places, as well as more mixed residential/light commercial so that people don’t have to travel as far. But the fact remains that private automobiles and public transit serve two very different purposes, only really overlapping in that they transport people from one place to another. The other details matter, and they’re different for each. “Hurr durr cars bad buses good” is so oversimplified as to be not even wrong.

        • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It’s also missing the panel showing the same number of people on motorcycles, which have all the same multi-destination advantages of cars while being able to fit 2x to 3x more of them and their riders in the same space.

          This is even more relevant in “developed” countries where most of the cars only have a single occupant anyway.

          • Nougat@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            That’s what was missing - I knew it was something. Yeah, small displacement motorcycles and scooters would go in the direction of helping a lot, at least in parts of the US which don’t suffer difficult winters.

          • thisisnotgoingwell@programming.dev
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            1 year ago

            I hope the day comes that motorcycles are seen by the law and public opinion as a commuting option and not as a hobby… owning a motorcycle and living in a large metro area is great. I get to park for free instead of paying $15 per day.

        • This is fine🔥🐶☕🔥@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The subtext is that all the people in the cars (and only one per car, for that matter, which is definitely common, but not universal) are going to the exact same destination from the exact same starting point, at the same time, and that there is a public transit route that travels between the two places at the time everyone wants to travel, because that’s the only way the comparison is honest.

          Hmmm

          Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

    • Surreal@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      The cars will be much slower than the buses because the absurd amount of cars will eventually cause terrible traffic jam. And the environmental damage caused by the huge amount of cars is enormous (air pollution + require a huge amount of land to build one more lane & parking space)

    • MonkderZweite@feddit.ch
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      1 year ago

      Most people in the US do not live where there are robust public transit options.

      Don’t live in the US, got it.

    • KSP Atlas@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago
      1. Assuming theres no traffic jams, yes

      2. Depends whether the area implements things like bus lanes

      3. Yes, but you can get off at different spots

      4. They have infrastructure problems with that

      5. Yes

    • SchizoDenji@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Electric bicycles is the best alternative surely? Mild excersise, still decently quick and it’s quite portable too.

      • Nougat@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Yes! Also a good partial solution, along with motorcycles. Weather and other passenger/cargo/distance needs are still going to require many people to also own and operate cars, but I don’t think anything is going to be a silver bullet anyway.

      • Nougat@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I have two in my garage right now, I’m all for it. Small displacement motorcycles can easily take over a large amount of trips that are currently done in cars. Except that winter weather conditions in the US preclude motorcycling for a lot of people for a good portion of the year. This means that many motorcyclists will have to trade a motorcycle ride for some other form of transportation quite often, which further means that a lot of motorcyclists are going to also need a car. The individual cost of parking, owning, and operating two vehicles is going to be prohibitive for many people.

        Yes, small displacement motorcycles should be part of the solution. We have to recognize that they are not going to be a complete solution. That said, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

  • 1984@lemmy.today
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    1 year ago

    Cars are great though (for the driver). There is no better feeling than sitting in your own car, away from the public. After decades of going on public transport, I love being in my car.

    But sure, they suck for the environment and how cities have to be planned to allow for them. Totally agree on that. But they do give people freedom to go anywhere without being dependent on public transport and being subjected to the public.

    Also driving a car is the most fun I’ve ever had. It’s better than anything. Sex is overrated compared to driving.

    • kurwa@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s the best! I love being stuck in stop and go traffic, with hundreds of people who barely know how to drive, and oh my favorite is how no one knows how to merge, and I’m always getting cut off. It’s great. I can’t wait for them to add more lanes.

        • kurwa@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I live in the suburbs. I wish I was in the city because I would never drive. Or maybe in a small walkable town.

      • askdocsthrowaway96@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Meh, in some places like certain parts of bay area, it’s not very usual to get stuck in traffic. So unless you disincentivize it with and provide good alternatives with public transport, people are not gonna even consider it.

        Love what Netherlands is doing with their cities

        • kurwa@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, where I live there isn’t any good public transportation to get to places like the stores or work, I have to drive unfortunately.

      • 1984@lemmy.today
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        1 year ago

        Haha yeah I know people are frustrated too, but I don’t feel it at all, at least not yet :)

    • dvoraqs@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      When I had a daily commute and switched to public transportation, I loved being able to do something else with my time than paying attention to the road to navigate and react to other cars.

      • 1984@lemmy.today
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        1 year ago

        I find myself reacting to other people on public transport and it’s stuff like smelling really bad, making loud noises etc etc. I very much prefers cars…

        I get depressed when going on public transport. :)

        • dvoraqs@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          There’s a reinforcing feedback loop there. I only see that occasionally on my commutes now, but it is a reflection of the community and the people who consider it an option for them. The more unusual taking public transportation is, the more unusual the people will be. But we can help to normalize it.

          • 1984@lemmy.today
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            1 year ago

            It’s very normal where I live… It’s so normal that people think they are in their living room, because they have loud private conversations, have their phone sound on top volume, and generally smell bad.

            Maybe that’s not what you meant though.