Science fiction stories have long captivated our imaginations with tales of the seemingly impossible. We as a society are (still) free to dream anything our heart desires, and, as such, we try to peer into the future and ascertain what gadget or gizmo might lay just over the horizon. We spend our time wondering what technology or invention will come next to make our lives just that much more easy, convenient and fulfilling.
Or at least we used to.
Skepticism, while apart of our biology since the dawn of time, has in the post-factual era run rampant. With misinformation sweeping the nation, the big dreams of our past have been replaced by doubt and apathy. In the past, this behavior has gone without a real cost, merely a necessary evil that has always lingered in the background.
Ever since childhood, visionary engineer Daryl Oster has been fascinated with pneumatic tubes. Watching as his father’s receipts whisked away from one end of their local metal shop to another sparked an enduring idea. “What if you could put people inside of something like that.” His creative and technical interests nurtured by his family, Daryl founded the Evacuated Tube Transportation Technologies (ET3™) Global Alliance and attaining their first patent in 1999. ET3™ acts as an open consortium for intellectual property holders, individuals and businesses that can bring all of their strengths together to build the transportation system of the future: a compartmentalized capsule containing people or cargo, suspended and propelled via magnets, in a near airless and frictionless environment.
Daryl – Photo By Terrah Schultz
The ET3™ Consortium has over two dozen patents, with another two dozen in development. The only company in the consortium who has qualified access to use each and every one of these patents is Loop Global, a startup born out of the desire to implement this liberating tech in the real world. Enter D Worthington & Alex Curry, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Creative Officer respectively who both found Daryl through seeing the potential of his vision. Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, Loop Global specializes in “Moving Matter Faster” as Alex stated in our interview.
The transport capsule will be traveling at speeds that boggle the mind. I had previously familiarized myself with the facts and figures of the more popular iteration of this technology – Hyperloop. Once I was in the room with the people who are the originators of the concept, however, I very quickly realized that my preconceptions would be drastically redefined. The Loop capsules are capable of moving at speeds up to 4000 miles per hour. Yes, you read that correctly, NYC to LA in under an hour, and NYC to Beijing in around 2 hours. Imagine, commuting to your job in Los Angeles while living in the Rocky Mountains, and it took less than an hour to do so every day. “It is basically space travel on Earth.” Daryl casually mentions while sitting in a full-scale mockup of the passenger capsule. A tantalizing sight in itself, the first question that is asked of me when sealed up inside “Are you more or less comfortable than in an airplane?” Without hesitation from inside the padded tubular capsule call out “Way more comfortable!”
The key element to bear in mind about the dream that ET3™ and Loop Global have is that it’s not really a dream anymore, it is a reality. It is scientifically verified and ready to implement. Operating with tools that in some cases are over one hundred years old, (a sheet metal brake from the 1910’s and a spot welder from the 1950’s) it is astounding that the tech of yesteryear is being used to build the world of tomorrow. The end result of Loop and ET3’s hard work may seem like futurist fantasies, however, they have the technology presently to make this a reality and to do it safely.
Skepticism surrounding this technology stems primarily from safety concerns, as with any major paradigm shift in transportation. What happens if there is a leak in the tube? How do you prevent tampering on exposed tubes along the countryside? Even while most issues are solved there remains a lingering dark cloud of doubt from the public as to the feasibility and viability of such a radical idea. If you yourself are still skeptical, let me present to you some statistics that are firmly rooted in the present reality.
The National Safety Council estimates that 4.75 million people were seriously injured enough to require medical attention on American roadways in 2017 and over 1.2 million people were killed in traffic fatalities globally. Drastic measures are being called for by the National Safety Council and other advocacy groups around the world, as it is now the second consecutive year that the death rate has topped 40,000 in this country with no signs of retreat.
It was a clear night in Dallas TX in February of this year. Alex and D were headed home after attending a cryptocurrency conference. Having made friends with some of the other attendees, they decided to caravan back to the other side of the city together. Dispersed between two cars and a motorcycle, with Alex driving the rear car and D riding on the back of the motorcycle, the group of young entrepreneurs set off on what should have been a relatively uneventful drive. As the first car entered a crested right-hand turn, the driver realized nearly too late that a black car with no lights had stopped in the middle of the highway. The first car swerved, nearly hitting the black Dodge Charger that had “run out of gas”. Surreptitiously witnessing this first near hit, the owner of another unrelated vehicle that had blown a tire on the opposite side of the highway later stated that he had cried out across the interstate to “get that thing onto the shoulder!” The passengers of the first car now turned their attention back to the almost inevitable scene that was to unfold in their rearview mirrors.
D- Photo By Terrah Schultz
Tyler Garrison, a community organizer and serial entrepreneur from Ashville, NC who was also attending the conference, was killed when the motorcycle he was driving hit the black charger. A new friend of the group, yet no stranger to innovation as the founder of Junk Recyclers, a company repurposing unwanted items, as well as The Regeneration Station which sells used furniture re-worked by artists, was only 5 days shy of his 35th birthday, leaving behind 3-year-old daughter Nova. D was thrown from the motorcycle landing 20 feet away on the tarmac, fracturing his skull along with a laundry list of other injuries.
Daryl – Photo By Terrah Schultz
Moments later, the rear car arrived on the scene meeting the passengers of the first car that had doubled back just before. Already having alerted the authorities, the group was attempting to direct traffic with what little light they had on the dark stretch of highway. Alex, now one of the first responders to an accident involving his business partner and best friend, a victim of the exact problem they are trying to solve.
Alex – Photo By Terrah Schultz
In moments like this, time loses its objectivity. It can warp, bend and distort – as the next dire seconds passed, the scene became one of frenzy. Frantic waving and shouting ensued during the 15 whole minutes that elapsed before the authorities even arrived. The group, now shock ridden spent until the early hours talking with the authorities alongside the dark stretch of highway. Tyler’s death was unnecessary, born out of negligence and carelessness. And in our modern age, with our modern technology, it was arguably preventable. As the sunrise beckoned with flurries in the air, everyone was free to start picking up the pieces. Especially for Alex, the uncertainty of his CEO’s life and the future of their company, the central question remained – What now?
Only a month after being induced into a medical coma and near continuous surgeries, D is back on his feet and at work. By all previous accounts ahead of any expectation to walk, talk let alone work again, he is optimistic and determined. Ever honest in his delivery of facts and figures about Loop, there is a sense that his vision for the company and his sheer determination itself is the primary motivation for his speedy recovery. During that time, work at Loop did not stop. Everyone knew that it couldn’t, there was too little time and too much on the line. Instead of setback, this accident was a catalyst, further reinforcing their resolve. What were once vague statistics you could throw out at a dinner party, materialized in front of them in a very tangible reality.
Fear and skepticism are natural responses to the unknown and unfamiliar. In the face of knowing and understanding, we should come to the conversation emboldened to see beyond our own potential and differences. This is a problem worth solving, not only because it would lead to a better life through affordable large-scale mobility for a massive amount of people on this planet. It is imperative to drastically reduce the number of fatalities that occur every year on our roadways. I have lost many friends to completely preventable accidents over the years. Every time I get behind the wheel I wrestle with those thoughts. If the titans of the tech world decide to come down from Mount Othrys and join forces, it would certainly help, but it would not be a necessity. The people working on this will make it a reality regardless of any obstacle, the passion and determination that they exude is infectious and could move mountains, or at least tunnel through them.
Loop Global & ET3 along with Individuals like Daryl, D & Alex that are pioneering this technology show that there is a better way. Not in a far-off future, but right here, right now.