XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: jclarkeusenet@cox.net   
      
   In article ,   
   droleary@8usenet2013.subsume.com says...   
   >   
   > In article ,   
   >  David DeLaney  wrote:   
   >   
   > > Fairly clear, because while that is the case, it's also a lot harder to   
   keep   
   > > a watch out in 4\pi of spherical directions than it is in 360 degrees of   
   > > planar ones; you can't build roads in the air; and if you have a problem in   
   > > mid-air, despite what Bugs Bunny demonstrated, you cannot simply put on   
   your   
   > > air brakes and stop dead while you try to fix it or wait for help. Plus   
   > > drunken   
   > > teenagers or adults make all of this so much worse...   
   >   
   > But, really, that all applies to car travel already, especially at high   
   > speeds.  Get tapped the wrong way by another car and you get sent into a   
   > ditch in a vehicle that is in *no* way equipped to deal with that extra   
   > dimension of travel.   
   >   
   > The fact is, flying cars just don't make sense.  Once you have the   
   > ability to fly, the desire to drive craters.  Once you can manage the   
   > complexities and dangers of moving in 3 dimensions, it's hard to   
   > restrict yourself to the 2D Flatlander world.  Cars would be as   
   > anachronistic in a world of ubiquitous flight as flight would be in a   
   > world of ubiquitous teleportation.   
   >   
   > Realistic sci-fi would look beyond our lowly obsession with cars.  I   
   > mean, hell, even modern urban planners know that they've caused more   
   > problems than they've solved.  Same goes for this self-driving nonsense;   
   > it makes no sense to turn cars into trains via software.  Use a train if   
   > you want a train; you could've been doing that for over a century.  If   
   > you want a flying car, go buy a plane already; you could've been doing   
   > that for over a century.   
      
   When the train can take me from my garage to my office and stop off for   
   groceries on the way home, all on my schedule, without my having to walk   
   several blocks in the snow at each end or make several transfers, get   
   back to me.  When I can park the plane in the lower level of a   
   multilevel underground parking garage get back to me.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)