Here's the steps to this dance: 1. Flying car woo gets profiled in NYT 2. Everyone clicks because, hey, flying cars! 3. Investors throw money at "as featured in NYT" startups 4. $400B later, someone will demo 3 wingless "flying cars" on rails in a tunnelhttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/12/technology/flying-cars.html …
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What's described in the article is just a variety of ultralight aircraft that could be made into a luxury air taxi service if we repealed a ton of aviation safety regulations (like requiring a pilot). My favorite is the one that costs $150K and has a 25 mile range.pic.twitter.com/DwN4kd9eBH
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If a bunch of recreational pilots called for the elimination of half the FAA so that ultralights could rain down on Manhattan during the first big thunderstorm, they would not get a NYT profile. But computer programmers arriving at the same place from first principles get respect
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Why can't Silicon Valley just build the public transit system of any fourth-tier Japanese city? Why does money that could pay for that a dozen times over get funneled into this shit, or firing Bezos into space?
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But that's the state of innovation in America. Any fun technology targeted at individual wealthy users gets funded, often on promises of regulatory repeal. Meanwhile the most modest attempts at public works, no matter how much they improve quality of life, have no chance.
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"Flying cars" = "helicopters" + VC hype. I will die on this hill.
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There's nothing fundamental that flying cars are meant to do that helicopters don't do. But personal helicopters have a plutocratic image problem so there's a lot of interest in Jetsonifying them.pic.twitter.com/DWqEJMidlr
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Also as many people kill themselves in regular cars adding flight mechanics on top will be hilariously lethal
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I wonder how realistic the stealth helicopter concept is, as described in Snow Crash.
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Don't forget about the consequences of any serious malfunction: a ball of metal and fire coming down on unsuspecting people.
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