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The sad thing is that vapourware and the promise of technology to easily solve our problems has real impacts on delaying progress by other means. Cars are the

The sad thing is that vapourware and the promise of technology to easily solve our problems has real impacts on delaying progress by other means. Cars are the number one killer of children in America. Political action to reduce this number by redesigning cities to limit human/car interactions and providing safer transportation alternatives is stymied by opponents to who point to assuredly safe autonomous cars as being just around the corner. See also Hypertube vs high speed rail and carbon capture vs carbon taxes.

sdenton4 7y ago
To be sure, the car lobby has existed and worked steadily to make cities more car-centric since long, long before the self-driving car people came around... We (in the US) have failed to make safer cities for about a hundred years already, so this sounds a bit like blaming people trying to build new fences for the existence of the wolves.
WhompingWindows 7y ago
Your examples just show our political system is corrupted by big money, it's not about tech and vaporware. -Cars have power due to historical considerations: car lobbyists and rich car owners getting their environments designed for their own car-use. -Hyperloop has almost nothing to do with high speed rail failing in the USA, it is a brand new concept and there were decades of destruction of trains by the auto industry and by the US's poor geographic make-up for trains. -Carbon capture is just a fake-out by fossil fuel industry, there is no economic potential for CCS. Carbon taxes can't even pass in liberal WA in two referanda. Carbon taxes are simply extremely unpalatable, due to massive fossil-fuel lobbying against them and to subsidize fossil fuels. Therefore, most Americans are ignorant of just how much their fossil-fuel habits truly cost, since their other taxes and politicians ensure they are cheap and readily available with no taxation. Big moneyed interests have mortgaged our planet's future to keep gas at $2.50/gallon.

sdenton4 7y ago

To be sure, the car lobby has existed and worked steadily to make cities more car-centric since long, long before the self-driving car people came around... We (in the US) have failed to make safer cities for about a hundred years already, so this sounds a bit like blaming people trying to build new fences for the existence of the wolves.

WhompingWindows 7y ago

Your examples just show our political system is corrupted by big money, it's not about tech and vaporware. -Cars have power due to historical considerations: car lobbyists and rich car owners getting their environments designed for their own car-use. -Hyperloop has almost nothing to do with high speed rail failing in the USA, it is a brand new concept and there were decades of destruction of trains by the auto industry and by the US's poor geographic make-up for trains. -Carbon capture is just a fake-out by fossil fuel industry, there is no economic potential for CCS. Carbon taxes can't even pass in liberal WA in two referanda. Carbon taxes are simply extremely unpalatable, due to massive fossil-fuel lobbying against them and to subsidize fossil fuels. Therefore, most Americans are ignorant of just how much their fossil-fuel habits truly cost, since their other taxes and politicians ensure they are cheap and readily available with no taxation. Big moneyed interests have mortgaged our planet's future to keep gas at $2.50/gallon.