Imagine if you could travel between Stockholm (Sweden) and Helsinki (Finland) in 28 minutes. In many ways, that would remove the barriers between our countries. That means we could access Finland’s entire culture, workforce and collective brain, and Finland could access ours. And all of a sudden, the entire job market of Finland is accessible to Sweden, and vice versa.

The creativity of two countries would join forces, without having to go through the mountain of legal mess involved in formally merging two countries.

Now imagine that we started connecting European country after country, and cities within countries, so that the barriers of time and space between us would more or less be non-existent.

You could work in Berlin and live in Stockholm, because your commute would be only 45 minutes. Or work in Paris and live in Malmö, with a commute of only 1 hour. You see how cool that would be?

Google Maps in a Hyperloop-enabled world.

All of this can be possible with the Hyperloop. A vacuum tube that transports passengers in pods at ~1000 km/h.

Stockholm and Helsinki could be the first European cities to get a Hyperloop connection. The projected cost for a Stockholm — Helsinki link is €17B, according to a study by FS Links and KPMG. A small price tag, considering that Sweden’s current plans for a “high-speed” rail network will cost a whopping €24B (source in Swedish). And it only travels at a puny 320 km/h.

I think going for the tried and tested, boring, unchallenging, comfortable and safe option of a “high-speed” rail ensures Sweden enters a new stone age.

Because every time a country gets a Hyperloop connection, every other country will feel a little bit like a prison.

Because why would you live in Sweden, if you can choose a country that gives you access to five other countries within an hour?

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I’m a former musician and scientist in chemistry. Today I’m an investor and global speaker on how technology affects industries, societies and human behavior. I’m on Facebook & Twitter.

Disclosure: I work for none of the companies mentioned in the article, nor do I receive any monetary gains from said companies in any way.