Inventions We Are Still Waiting For
Why haven’t flying cars become more of a reality. Yes, there is one which is supposed to be getting a license to fly but it is more of a hop and drive machine. I believe the controls of corridors in the air is so complicated for a flying car it will still be a long time before they become practical if ever. The next thing is the price. It is said you can buy a Cessna 175 Skylark airplane for about $45,000. The flying car is over $200,000. I believe you would be much better off with the Skylark. Yes, you would still have to drive from airport to airport, but renting a car at one end would still be incredibly cheaper than buying a flying car. A flying car needs two licenses. You need a pilot’s license and a driver’s license. Maybe some day in the future it will be decided to give you one license where you qualified for both.
I have to wonder how most people feel about riding in a car which has a robotic driving system. Sure, we hear it is safer than having a human driver, and there are much fewer accidents, but how does the idea of being a passenger in one make a person feel? A poll was taken and the question was asked about being in a self-driving car and 68 percent of the Americans who took the poll said they would be afraid. The number of the poll takers who said they would trust a self-driving car was 9 percent. Elon Musk has announced he will soon release a self-driving taxi.
One of the things we have been promised for decades is a cure for cancer. Some have said it will never be because the drug companies make too much money on the medicine for treating it. They ignore the fact many scientists and doctors have earnestly been trying to find a cure and seem to have gotten improved treatments, but no magical cure. There have been rumors for years that doctors in other countries have discovered a cure, but that seems never to have come to pass.
One of my favorite stories is about the promise of the car which can run on water. Actually, the water is said to be separated into components and the hydrogen acquired and that is what is said to power the car. There are stories about frauds and one about an inventor who was said to have been murdered to keep his car off the market. It is almost impossible to know what is true and what is not. We do know water contains oxygen and hydrogen so supposedly the hydrogen is there if we can extract it in such a way it would power our car, but this seems to be impractical so far.
One of the things which has fascinated us is the idea of a universal language translator which operates in real time. We are getting closer with the ones we have, but we are certainly not there yet. What is going to happen when, and if, we meet extraterrestrials as far as translation goes? It seems to me the translator to give a perfect translation would have to be able to read the brain of an alien. It will be interesting to see, when that time comes and it will, if the extraterrestrials have such a device or even a brain as we know it.
Another thing which has been talked about by scientists, which is even said to be worked on by some, is the warp engine. It is the dream of all scientists who realize we need a way to travel in space which will allow us to get to a destination in a reasonable amount of time. Rockets and the other means we have now just don’t do the job. Along with this idea is the idea of using anti-gravity. There have been rumors for years which claim not only do we have it, but we have at least three different antigravity devices. So far there is no proof we do have it but there was a story from years ago which stated one of our aerospace companies hired a Russian scientist who was the world’s leader in the subject.
One of the things people have been looking forward to is the advent of 3D without glasses. There is research going on right now trying to perfect it, but we are still falling short. Scientists are taking holographs and trying to make them more realistic. One of the things they have suggested is being able to touch the holographs and make it feel like they were solid. I am not sure how they expect to do this, but can you imagine watching a holographic movie being shown in the middle of your living room floor where the actors are actual size and being able to touch them?
One of the big dreams of scientists and of climate change people is weather control. We have been trying to control the weather for decades and have had limited success. This success has to do with cloud seeding to make rain. It is not perfect, but has had some success. We even did this during the Vietnam war. Rumors abound in this area and the United States and Russia are said to have devices which can create weather weapons. It has been said we can create earthquakes and tornadoes to name a couple of devastating weather weapons. There is no proof for any of this, but who knows what is true and what is not?
Another device which has been promised for a while is a battery that can last for decades. Years ago, the Russians said they had invented a tiny nuclear battery which was safe and was only the size of a dime. They said it could power devices for many years and could outlast the devices in some instances. We are yet to see a commercial version of this, but a company made an announcement the other day that they too have invented a nuclear battery which is very safe and small. If it comes to be, maybe we would never have to charge our cell phones anymore.
Lastly, the detection of diseases is on a lot of people’s minds. There had been talk over the years of ways to detect disease without having to go to the doctor and submit to uncomfortable tests. The Japanese have a toilet which can examine waste for disease but it is limited in what it can find. This is something which might just come true in the near future.