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 Peregrine wrote:

 Talizvar wrote:
Flying cars look up Terrafugia.

Or go back to 1949: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Aerocar. Which is why it amuses me when people complain about not having flying cars yet. We had them, and nobody bothered to buy them.

People want this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gHLi5No8dSY/SawdDt5v8SI/AAAAAAAACbU/phm3-IBdLwc/s640/Audi-Shark-Flying-Car-Concept-1.jpg
Not this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerocar#mediaviewer/File:Taylor-Aerocar-III.jpg

But Concorde's go faster and I find airplanes boring so the less time in the airplane the better.

 LumenPraebeo wrote:
People want this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gHLi5No8dSY/SawdDt5v8SI/AAAAAAAACbU/phm3-IBdLwc/s640/Audi-Shark-Flying-Car-Concept-1.jpg
Not this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerocar#mediaviewer/File:Taylor-Aerocar-III.jpg

Of course people want cool looking CGI stuff* instead of the real thing, but you don't get to a polished final product without going through the ugly prototype stage. If flying cars had a legitimate market they would have seen more development and there would have been a much nicer looking design. But the simple fact is that the market was too small to support that development, and they ended up on the garbage pile of ideas that nobody wanted to buy.

*That "concept" was designed by an artist, not an engineer. It is not even remotely close to a viable design.

 Peregrine wrote:
Of course people want cool looking CGI stuff* instead of the real thing, but you don't get to a polished final product without going through the ugly prototype stage. If flying cars had a legitimate market they would have seen more development and there would have been a much nicer looking design. But the simple fact is that the market was too small to support that development, and they ended up on the garbage pile of ideas that nobody wanted to buy.

*That "concept" was designed by an artist, not an engineer. It is not even remotely close to a viable design.

Yep, which is why even though the flying car is a viable invention, it won't stand a chance unless you can get it looking nicer. It'll happen one day, just not soon.

 LumenPraebeo wrote:
Yep, which is why even though the flying car is a viable invention, it won't stand a chance unless you can get it looking nicer. It'll happen one day, just not soon.

But to get it to look nicer there needs to be a market to fund development beyond the prototype stage. And that market doesn't exist. The very few people who are willing to spend $10-20k and months of training time to learn to fly tend to buy proper airplanes instead of a hybrid car/plane that doesn't do either job very well. And without that training you simply can not use a flying car without killing yourself, all of your passengers, and possibly people on the ground. There aren't any technological obstacles to making a flying car, the simple fact is that nobody wants to buy them.

And no, this is not going to change in the foreseeable future. Until you get sentient AI for the autopilot you will not have flying cars. And at that point the entire transportation system will probably be so utterly different from what we have now that speculation about it is pointless.

 Peregrine wrote:
useless toy whose retirement was only mourned by a handful of plane lovers.

Heh. Okay, you got me!

 Peregrine wrote:
But to get it to look nicer there needs to be a market to fund development beyond the prototype stage. And that market doesn't exist. The very few people who are willing to spend $10-20k and months of training time to learn to fly tend to buy proper airplanes instead of a hybrid car/plane that doesn't do either job very well. And without that training you simply can not use a flying car without killing yourself, all of your passengers, and possibly people on the ground. There aren't any technological obstacles to making a flying car, the simple fact is that nobody wants to buy them.

And no, this is not going to change in the foreseeable future. Until you get sentient AI for the autopilot you will not have flying cars. And at that point the entire transportation system will probably be so utterly different from what we have now that speculation about it is pointless.

I saw a flying car at the NYC autoshow a few years back. I also saw one on youtube.

 Jihadin wrote:

 Soladrin wrote:

 Jihadin wrote:
Notice everyone using their Debit/Credit more then using actual money

In America*

Edited for correction

Thought you were French Sol

HOW DARE YOU.

 Peregrine wrote:

And if that future doesn't put money first there will be no need for the Concorde. Its sole reason for existing was to be an expensive toy for the wealthy, it had no practical value. Remove the emphasis on accumulating wealth and showing it off to everyone around you and you'll find that conventional airliners work just fine and are a lot more efficient.

The same could be said for a lot of things though that start out outrageously expensive and provide questionable value for the money. Laserdisc, CD/DVD players, hybrid cars, smartphones, plasma tvs; those were all well outside the price range of most middle class families when they really came out, and weren't that much more impressive than the incumbent alternative. Within 5-10 years though, they all became vastly improved and a fraction of their original price.

I mean, 12 years ago, I remember selling TVs at Sears that were almost as expensive as the brand new car I just bought 3 months ago. Our top of the line was a $20,000 56" plasma that had a lifespan that would probably last 2 years in a household that had kids who would watch it regularly. Fast forward to now, and I have a 42" plasma I bought 3 years ago for about $400 that still looks as good as the day I bought it, though I admittedly don't use it that often.

I'm glad it didn't. I didn't want to be a trog eating humans all the time. ham is great but it gets boring.



(if anyone missed look up Time Machine).

 Soladrin wrote:

 Jihadin wrote:

 Soladrin wrote:

 Jihadin wrote:
Notice everyone using their Debit/Credit more then using actual money

In America*

Edited for correction

Thought you were French Sol

HOW DARE YOU.

Yeah get it right, he's German.

 Frazzled wrote:
I'm glad it didn't. I didn't want to be a trog eating humans all the time. ham is great but it gets boring.



(if anyone missed look up Time Machine).

That hasn't been disproven yet. I think we still have more than a couple of centuries to go before we prove we don't wind up the Etoi, or whatever they were called. Frankly, I'd be impressed if we make it there.

 LumenPraebeo wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
Of course people want cool looking CGI stuff* instead of the real thing, but you don't get to a polished final product without going through the ugly prototype stage. If flying cars had a legitimate market they would have seen more development and there would have been a much nicer looking design. But the simple fact is that the market was too small to support that development, and they ended up on the garbage pile of ideas that nobody wanted to buy.

*That "concept" was designed by an artist, not an engineer. It is not even remotely close to a viable design.

Yep, which is why even though the flying car is a viable invention, it won't stand a chance unless you can get it looking nicer. It'll happen one day, just not soon.

I'm just as happy flying cars aren't a generally available item. Enough crappy drivers out there as it is without giving them further means to put the rest of us at risk.
About the first time I see a flying bondo buggy, or a "low flyer"...

 MrDwhitey wrote:

 Soladrin wrote:

 Jihadin wrote:

 Soladrin wrote:

 Jihadin wrote:
Notice everyone using their Debit/Credit more then using actual money

In America*

Edited for correction

Thought you were French Sol

HOW DARE YOU.

Yeah get it right, he's German.

I was going with
"Quiet you. France came out ahead with a couple billion dollars and two free ships Kestrel Class"

I just say it because dutch people hate being called German.

Soladrin especially hates this, because he's actually German.

 Soladrin wrote:

 Jihadin wrote:
Think Japan actually built one

It's not in my backyard though.

You should get one, they're quite fun:




I was kind of sad when we didn't launch the last of our deep space probes in 1987, nor where any rockets named ranger 3.

 jasper76 wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

food pills

No market for it. People enjoy eating, and a pill doesn't duplicate that experience.

Speak for yourself. I hate the fact that I have to eat, and would jump all over a pill form of complete and healthy sustenance. And I'd be happy to eat real food as an occasion, 1 meal a day for enjoyment, something like that.

I cant be alone!!!

you can already buy things like solent...


http://www.soylent.me/




the only thing I wanted out of the future,

was for some one to realize that hot dog buns come in packs of 12, and hot dogs come in packs of 8... do the math, and either give me 8 packs of buns or 12 packs of hot dogs.

 easysauce wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

food pills

No market for it. People enjoy eating, and a pill doesn't duplicate that experience.

Speak for yourself. I hate the fact that I have to eat, and would jump all over a pill form of complete and healthy sustenance. And I'd be happy to eat real food as an occasion, 1 meal a day for enjoyment, something like that.

I cant be alone!!!

you can already buy things like solent...


http://www.soylent.me/




the only thing I wanted out of the future,

was for some one to realize that hot dog buns come in packs of 12, and hot dogs come in packs of 8... do the math, and either give me 8 packs of buns or 12 packs of hot dogs.

Brother.......don't go there.....just don't go there.....

Just think, next year is the year they traveled to the future in Back to the Future 2. Wheres my hoverboard?

 WrentheFaceless wrote:
Just think, next year is the year they traveled to the future in Back to the Future 2. Wheres my hoverboard?

Better luck in getting a Delorean first

 Jehan-reznor wrote:
What about William Gibson! we are still jacking off instead of jacking in.

A friend of mine said "It is not the future until I stick a plug into my melon!".
The update of that may be it will go Blue-tooth (or whatever wireless high bandwidth protocol emerges, I would suggest calling it brain-wave).

William Gibson had an interesting book called "No-Logo" talking of having virtual space overlay with GPS coordinates.
So then hyperlinking and real-time "enhancements" can be coupled with physical objects through an interface like Google glasses.

I like the name given in the book "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson for people who are wired for recording everything live to the net = Gargoyle.
http://www.someoneelse.net/blog/google-glass-witch-witch-fear-of-the-gargoyle

It is surprising how much consumer content / products are created and distributed from non-corporate sources.

I , for one, am glad the future hasn't arrived.

My home town isn't under the sea. The Amazon rain forest is still here (hang in there!). Acid rain hasn't crumbled my house into dust and I'm still able to urinate without worrying about having to drink it tomorrow.

The future has never arrived because once it arrives it is no longer the future and is the present, and quickly becomes the past.

 daedalus wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
I'm glad it didn't. I didn't want to be a trog eating humans all the time. ham is great but it gets boring.



(if anyone missed look up Time Machine).

That hasn't been disproven yet. I think we still have more than a couple of centuries to go before we prove we don't wind up the Etoi, or whatever they were called. Frankly, I'd be impressed if we make it there.

Eloi

Big HG Wells fan over here

 Talizvar wrote:


It is surprising how much consumer content / products are created and distributed from non-corporate sources.

For a couple years now at my megacorp campus, people have been calling those other people who wear their headset earpieces everywhere they go "cyborgs" as a pejorative. The sentiment is there, even if they're not familiar with the works of Stephenson. People resist wearable tech, for a lot of silly (and some good) reasons.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:


Eloi

Big HG Wells fan over here

I haven't read it in years. I was close enough!

I can hit a button on a device the size of a large playing card,

and tell the guy across town to have my bacon eggs or spinach flalafal ready by the time i get there.


technology has peaked,

everything after this point is irrelevant

 MrDwhitey wrote:
I just say it because dutch people hate being called German.

Soladrin especially hates this, because he's actually German.

That's funny because in Pennsylvania, Germans are mistakenly called Dutch by a lot of people. The term used to describe them is "Pennsylvania Dutch", when it's really "Pennsylvania Deutsche". Most had ancestors that came from the Black Forest area.

Relapse wrote:

 MrDwhitey wrote:
I just say it because dutch people hate being called German.

Soladrin especially hates this, because he's actually German.

That's funny because in Pennsylvania, Germans are mistakenly called Dutch by a lot of people. The term used to describe them is "Pennsylvania Dutch", when it's really "Pennsylvania Deutsche". Most had ancestors that came from the Black Forest area.

Oh, so you give them more respect then they deserve, good on ya.


(I'm obviously not serious)