[WS:] No, you said: "HSR will never beat flying (except for a very few, special situations, none of which are at work in the CA/HSR scenario), and really shouldn't try."
To which I replied "[WS:] It depends how you look at this."
The reply was to your main general statement "HSR will never beat flying" rather than to your parenthetical remark about applicability of special situations to CA. That is why I said that we talk past each other.
Recap:
J: Life sucks and then you die. W: It depends how you look at this. J: No it does not. W: Well some people enjoy life sometimes. J: Not germane. They die anyway.
Wojtek