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PaperclipPerfector  14hr ago (text post)   742 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 16, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Anyone watch the Roadster demo last night? As expected, it had some peak Elon cringe moments, but you don't have to be a great MC when you have a flying car.

Possibly the greatest product demo of all time.

Super cool, but I am afraid it'd be the same as with jetpacks - the tech exists for a while now but it's not practically usable outside of flashy demos.

Really? Cold gas thrusters on a car? I could be wrong, but is there anyone else who’s done this? Even as a personal side project? I would have guessed there are zero other companies that could design or install this tech, let alone program the software to invert a car and do a soft landing. Maybe another aerospace company could do it, but they haven’t. In the loosest definition, we have both cars and thrusters - but there’s something special about this.

Are the other auto companies that have found ways to radically change the traction equation?

I think you misunderstood my meaning. I don't say the tech already existed, I am saying once this tech is released, even if it becomes widely known how to do it, it still won't gain common use due to various other factors - just as there are a lot of ways to make a jetpack now, but not a lot of common use of them. I am not questioning Musk's priority, just the future of it as a consumer technology.

That said, he was able to make electric car and satellite internet a consumer technology, so what do I know. Hopefully somebody will read this in ten years, point at it and laugh, calling me an idiot.

I see. I agree there. But I am very curious to see what sort of stunts they can do with this in terms of lap times on race tracks like the Nurburgring - where pulling 2g+ corners would be sort of mind boggling.

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