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Comment by dbatten | Hacker News Reader

People (myself included) seem to have an inordinate fascination with tunnels. I mean, there's a fascination with things that are dilapidated/old, and a fascination with places you're not allowed to go. But tunnels in particular take it to an even higher level.

I wonder what it is about us that makes that the case?

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I think there's something about the way you go into a tunnel, travel down it, and emerge somewhere else. They almost have a hint of magical matter transportation to them, ridiculous as it seems. That's what makes tunnels in particular more exciting than mere mines or caves. I can make a cave system immediately more intriguing if I tell you that if you go through the system of caves you can emerge somewhere completely different.

They are amazing feats of civil engineering. I visited London recently and was riding on the Tube, most of the deep parts you cannot really see, but there are lines that are in cuttings and there the low-level foundation, plumbing and wiring of the city can be glimpsed.

I sometimes wish I had become a civil engineer rather than electronic.

London's sewers are more impressive than the Tube system. Much of the tube was built with relatively modern tunnelling technology - especially the newer lines like the Victoria and Jubilee Extension.

The sewers were hand-built with late Victorian technology - i.e. brick-lined deep tunnelling - and made a huge contribution to public health. The Thames was literally full of crap until they were completed, and they made London approximately habitable, instead of the disease-infested hell hole it used to be.

Indeed, the sewers are a marvel of Victorian civil engineering, however it is difficult to explore them without wading through Fatbergs[0]. The closest you can probably find is the South Kensington Subway[1] which links the Science Museum to South Kensington Tube station and the Woolwich and Greenwich foot tunnels[2].

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatberg [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertopolis#Overview [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolwich_foot_tunnel

In addition to dealing with London's sewage the Victorian sewer system also buried and redirected several of the rivers that ran through London. To complete the circle on this, the river Westbourne runs through the Sloane Square tube station in an large overhead pipe.

It might be partially instinct from our mammalian ancestors who survived by living underground. I think it's the same reason why mountains and oceans are so appealing to many people. They offer geographic survival advantages. We can't always express the exact reasons why we like them but it just feels right when you are there.

>They offer geographic survival advantages.

I felt and saw a view of a huge mountain and a synthetic view of some memories mixed in with an old train going through another one.

And I felt awe at realising that's it's a survival aspect. A lot of _us_ is hardwired into what increases our survival.

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