Should This Exist?

The return of supersonic flight

03.28.2019 - By WaitWhatPlay

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Throughout human history, we’ve wanted to fly – and to fly fast. So it’s hard to resist Blake Scholl’s idea. His startup, Boom, is building a new supersonic jet, which will fly at twice the speed of sound. If he succeeds, it could be the biggest disruption to air travel since the Jet Age of the 1960s. But progress always has a price. There’s the sonic boom, yes. But also — what happens when the world’s wealthiest can descend en masse on places that used to be hard to reach? And what happens to all of us when supersonic speeds up our already sped-up world? To help us see around this corner, host Caterina Fake discusses the possibilities with Boom Founder and CEO Blake Scholl, and special guests including author Anand Giridharadas, physicist Janna Levin, comedian Baratunde Thurston, and Quartz Editor-in-Chief Kevin Delaney.

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