In article ,
"Dan" wrote:

"Smitty Two" wrote in message

The flying motorcycle in question might not be the ubiquitous personal
transport of tomorrow any more than Moeller's skycar, but serious
thinkers are already planning for the Jetson's. Small planes flown by
computer, possibly in ground effect, could eliminate congestion, shorten
commutes, and massively reduce the need for building and maintaining
highways.

It's fiine that people are thinking about it. But in this case without some
huge technology shift it'll remain a dream. You require something that will
haul the family, groceries, vacation luggage and fly in bad weather and
severe wind. And yet be controllable by your average cellphone talker.
Nobody is going to take on remote piloting liabilities. Remember that all
this has to be cheaper than commuting in a car, in the face of rising energy
costs. On top of all that you have a fair percentage of the population who
are scared to death of the notion of flight.

And to be honest, I'd rather flying remained the domain of the few who
really appreciate it.

I agree that we'll need some huge technology shifts. History is peppered
with them, and I have no reason to believe that we've reached some sort
of pinnacle. Fifty years from now, most of the technology we use today
might seem primitive.

As far as the liability of a computer flown machine, we trust our lives
to computers every day. Without them, there would be no food on the
grocery store shelves, our cars wouldn't run, our buildings would be
uninhabitable, all forms of transportation would stop, all forms of mass
media would shut down, and every aspect of our financial lives would
collapse, just to name a few.

The modern airliner is perfectly well able to takeoff, fly to
destination, and land on full autopilot. It's our collective sense of
propriety that keeps the pilots in the cockpit, but paradigm shifts tend
to accompany technological "advancements." (I use the term skeptically
because I really believe we'd be better off as hunter-gatherers living
in straw huts.) Early in the last century, medical professionals didn't
believe the human body could withstand traveling at 20 mph. Later, they
weren't at all sure what would happen to the body or the machine at Mach
1.

(I also feel the same about sharing the skies with "commoners." I don't
even like sharing the road with them.)