From Alfred Speer's 10 mph vision in 1871 to modern failures in Paris, the moving walkway has failed as mass transit because of the fundamental physics problem of safely onboarding people onto a platform already moving at high speed, leading to trips and falls.

To overcome user apprehension about its new "Astroway" at LAX, American Airlines hired Lucille Ball for a targeted marketing campaign. The goal was to demonstrate its safety and ease of use, specifically for women who might be hesitant to ride while wearing high heels.

After failing as a city-wide transit solution, the moving walkway found its perfect product-market fit in airports, solving the specific pain point of long treks through ever-expanding terminals created by the jet age.

Moses pioneered using independent authorities to issue bonds for infrastructure, sequestering revenue streams like tolls away from the city's general fund. This model starved public transit and other services, creating a structural vulnerability that contributed significantly to the 1970s fiscal crisis long after he was gone.

History shows that transformative innovations like airlines, vaccines, and PCs, while beneficial to society, often fail to create sustained, concentrated shareholder value as they become commoditized. This suggests the massive valuations in AI may be misplaced, with the technology's benefits accruing more to users than investors in the long run.

While often no faster than walking, iconic moving walkways like Chicago O'Hare's succeed by transforming a tedious journey into a "transportive and calming" experience. This demonstrates the high value of experiential design in otherwise utilitarian public infrastructure.

The decline of moving walkways isn't just about cost or inefficiency. Airports now function like malls, where the business model relies on passengers lingering and spending money, making rapid transit through corridors counterproductive.

After failing to compete with trains, the moving walkway's first successful permanent installation was in a Jersey City train station. It proved its value not as a primary transit mode but as a micro-mobility tool to enhance an existing system by solving the 'last 100 yards' problem.

Society celebrates figures like Edison for the 'idea' of the lightbulb, but his real breakthrough was in manufacturing a practical version. Similarly, Elon Musk's genius is arguably in revolutionizing manufacturing to lower space travel costs, a feat of logistics often overlooked in favor of visionary narratives.