I reckon, we do tend to believe movies more than scientists :P Even further back they(fiction no doubt) predicted we'd all be flying around in zeppelins, even using them for wars. Somehow it didn't happen, which is kind of a pity.
Actually, zeppelins were used extensively in WWI. The Germans used them to bomb England; a perverse preview of the V1 and V2 bombings that would follow in WWII.
They may be making a comeback - several companies are re-developing rigid-air ships, for possible future use.
We were supposed to all have video phones, but I think people just don't want or need that. Sure it sounded exciting, but now we have that technology freely available, hardly anyone uses it.
I think the newest version of the iphone has that capability. IMO, video phones were dead before they started. I like the fact I can answer the phone unshaven, hair unkept (less of an issue these days), while wearing my undies (or nothing at all). Plus, do you *really* want the telemarketers to know what you look like?
However there are some technologies that depend on public money to develop. And they can be held back by politics or economics. One example is controlled nuclear fusion. Many countries are pouring public money into that, particularly ITER. But somehow it's not enough to get it finished in a timely manner. It's surely hard to sell to voters because people run in fear as soon as they hear the word 'nuclear'.
On the other hand, billions have been dumped into those programs, and billions are being promised as well. I think the major issue there is the technological difficulty of what they are trying to do. Replicating the interior conditions of the sun, in a controlled manner, isn't exactly a simple task.
I have the feeling that people today generally dislike new technology. There doesn't seem to be the excitement that there seemed to be 60 years ago. Rather, public interest seems to be more puritan. Hybrid cars are actually pretty cool from a technical point of view, but people are only interested in them because they're supposed to save the planet. Same goes for wind turbines.
Yep. There is a large section of people who dislike science and scientific progress these days.
But now wind turbines mean only two things: Good for the environment and bad for property values.
And bad for the birds...
Bryan
