XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: sna6345@gmail.com   
      
   "J. Clarke"  wrote in message   
   news:MPG.2d3b71dbee74782498a35e@news.newsguy.com...   
   > 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.   
      
   Yeah, that one is never going to happen, even with the pod system.   
      
   When I can park the plane in the lower level of a   
   > multilevel underground parking garage get back to me.   
      
   That one might be possible if a flying car can be a normal   
   car too. The cost of getting the wings stowed well enough   
   so it can operate like a normal car in the highest density   
   situations like a parking garage would be a real challenge tho.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)