this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2024

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xkcd #2940: Modes of Transportation (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 year ago by brbposting@sh.itjust.works to c/xkcd@lemmy.world

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xkcd #2940: Modes of Transportation

https://xkcd.com/2940

Explain xkcd #2940

Title Text:

My bold criticism might anger the hot air balloon people, which would be a real concern if any of them lived along a very narrow line directly upwind of me.

alt-text:

A chart that categorizes various modes of transportation based on their practicality and danger level:

Zone of Practicality:

Trains
Airliners
Boats
Walking
Cars
Scooters
Bicycles

Zone of Specialty and Recreational Vehicles:

Motorcycles
Helicopters
Light aircraft
Go karts
Skateboards
Rollerblades
Skis
Unicycles
Sleds
Bumper cars

?????:

Hot air balloons

“Hot air balloons are the optimal mode of transportation, if your optimization algorithm has a sign error.”

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[–] MonkderDritte@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

With helicopters it's more that they're expensive than unsave.

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[–] Venat0r@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Airliners should be below boats for convenience 😂 just because of airport security and bag collection...

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Airplane least convenient for travel from bedroom to kitchen

Walking least convenient for travel to Antarctica

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[–] Jentu@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

I really wish the x axis was average distance traveled and the y axis was danger.

I get that the way this graph was designed was for humor and to highlight hot air balloons, but if you’re looking for a safe vehicle for a specific distance, it really doesn’t help out in any way. It probably wouldn’t be safe to drive my car across the Atlantic Ocean.

[–] Mighty@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

why are scooters practical and motorcycles not? I only ride a motorcycle. any distance too long for bycicle or inconvenient with public transit, I take my motorcycle.

[–] Michal@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Looks like only because they're presented as dangerous. Convenience - wise they're still the same. Practicality seems to be defined here as a balance between danger and convenience.

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[–] thefrankring@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

Now I wish I has a hot air balloon for my transportation optimization algorithm.

[+] snaggen@programming.dev -10 points 1 year ago (16 children)

The fact that airplane travel is safer than cars is a myth invented to promote airplane travel. Well, it is not fully a myth, but to get to that result they measure per mile, and that greatly favor airplane travel. If you instead measure how likely you are to die on your next trip, then the dangers of airplane travel will significantly exceed car travel and other means of transportation.

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What’s the benefit of measuring per trip versus per passenger mile?

[–] snaggen@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Per trip is more in line with how people think about danger. Like, am I going to die on this trip?

[–] Electricblush@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would think real statistics would be more interesting then peoples emotions when talking about what is actually dangerous.

[–] snaggen@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And the question is am I going to die on this trip? And there the real statistics are pretty clear, cars are safer.

[–] Electricblush@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I sort of answered this somewhere else but i will reiterate.

Using this metric you are sort of assuming all trips are equal. No matter how short, or long you are assuming the base danger is the same. This means that driving 100 meters is just as dangerous as driving for a whole day. (See what the problem is?)

And if we look at this premise in isolation: "Am i going to die on this trip"? If the trip is 100m, then a plane is probably out of the question either way. And if the trip is to a different country.. then hey, look at that, the sources you cited come into relevance (where pr distance a plane is safer) and you would have to calculate the danger of completing that specific trip in a car VS flying that distance with a plane.

You are generalizing on terms that make no sense, since "total number of trips" in cars include all manner of different scenarios of some times extremely varying degree of danger. So in order to have data that is statistically relevant and in any form comparable you have to choose a different metric.

So to answer the question again "Am i going to die on this trip?" or to extrapolate "should i drive or fly on this trip", if you cant use generic statistics, the answer will be "it depends. You have to calculate danger for the trip specifically".

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