17 Years

Wow! Hadn't thought about that. Thank you for bringing up a memory that hasn't happened yet. Wait! What did I just say?

Here is an interesting video on why there aren't flying cars and likely never will be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdAQefnZsLk

Basically, the need to travel vertically has already been served by tunnels, bridges, overpasses, subways, and helicopters. Also, if your flying car malfunctions in the air, you are dead.

Another thing is that very often the world depicted in science fiction is often way more advanced than it actually will be, e.g. 2001 is nowhere nearly advanced as in 2001: A Space Odyssey, etc. Those predictions were usually made at a time when a lot of innovations were going on and that led people to over-predict the future.

kevin_y wrote:Here is an interesting video on why there aren't flying cars and likely never will be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdAQefnZsLk

Basically, the need to travel vertically has already been served by tunnels, bridges, overpasses, subways, and helicopters. Also, if your flying car malfunctions in the air, you are dead.

Another thing is that very often the world depicted in science fiction is often way more advanced than it actually will be, e.g. 2001 is nowhere nearly advanced as in 2001: A Space Odyssey, etc. Those predictions were usually made at a time when a lot of innovations were going on and that led people to over-predict the future.

Well in 2001 they at least got the video chat right... although down here on earth

dave343 wrote:

kevin_y wrote:Here is an interesting video on why there aren't flying cars and likely never will be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdAQefnZsLk

Basically, the need to travel vertically has already been served by tunnels, bridges, overpasses, subways, and helicopters. Also, if your flying car malfunctions in the air, you are dead.

Another thing is that very often the world depicted in science fiction is often way more advanced than it actually will be, e.g. 2001 is nowhere nearly advanced as in 2001: A Space Odyssey, etc. Those predictions were usually made at a time when a lot of innovations were going on and that led people to over-predict the future.

Well in 2001 they at least got the video chat right... although down here on earth

The thing that past predictions got wrong was the size of such video chat device. No one could predict a pocket-size video-phone device. Back then they still thought it would be as big as a refrigerator.

Regarding flying cars, we are stuck in thinking about current tech when we make those predictions. It's like centuries ago, people only knew horses as transportation, and they dreamed about horses that would not tire, horses that could run twice as fast, etc. They didn't realize that to have breakthroughs in traveling speed and distance, we might not need horses at all, but something entirely different - an entirely different realm of technology. And THAT'S our mindset when we dream of flying cars. To have better means of traveling vertically (or via another dimensions), we might not need cars at all, but something totally different.

kevin_y wrote: ↑May 10, 2020 • 1:30 pm

dave343 wrote:

kevin_y wrote:Here is an interesting video on why there aren't flying cars and likely never will be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdAQefnZsLk

Basically, the need to travel vertically has already been served by tunnels, bridges, overpasses, subways, and helicopters. Also, if your flying car malfunctions in the air, you are dead.

Another thing is that very often the world depicted in science fiction is often way more advanced than it actually will be, e.g. 2001 is nowhere nearly advanced as in 2001: A Space Odyssey, etc. Those predictions were usually made at a time when a lot of innovations were going on and that led people to over-predict the future.

Well in 2001 they at least got the video chat right... although down here on earth

The thing that past predictions got wrong was the size of such video chat device. No one could predict a pocket-size video-phone device. Back then they still thought it would be as big as a refrigerator.

Regarding flying cars, we are stuck in thinking about current tech when we make those predictions. It's like centuries ago, people only knew horses as transportation, and they dreamed about horses that would not tire, horses that could run twice as fast, etc. They didn't realize that to have breakthroughs in traveling speed and distance, we might not need horses at all, but something entirely different - an entirely different realm of technology. And THAT'S our mindset when we dream of flying cars. To have better means of traveling vertically (or via another dimensions), we might not need cars at all, but something totally different.

I suspect that Anti-gravity will exist someday... Maybe not in any of our lifetimes, but I do believe it will happen and once that stone is hurdled, it's only a matter of time before Flying cars, such as from Games or Movies, become a reality for people... Naturally with Government oversight and whatnot, it will take decades to get into the hands of normal people...
They will be restricted to X amount of feet, so as to not interfere with Planes, and there will be markers to depict where to Travel... You won't be allowed to just fly willy-nilly where you want... Of course there will be people who find a way around the markers and the altitude restrictions...

Chances are, by the time they let them into the hands of people, they will be fully automated... But again, people will find ways around it and there will still be a need for Traffic Police...