Guest “I couldn’t make this sort of schist up if I was trying” by David Middleton
From Enviromarxism Central…
Flying Cars Will Undermine Democracy and the Environment
By Kevin DeGood May 28, 2020Introduction and summary
Recent advances in lithium-ion batteries have opened the door to flying car development.1 At least 20 companies are currently working on novel designs, including both major aerospace firms such as Boeing and Airbus as well as smaller startups.2 A Morgan Stanley analysis estimates that the global market for on-demand, short-distance urban air travel could top $850 billion by 2040.3
Unfortunately, flying cars represent the technological apotheosis of sprawl and an attempt to eradicate distance as a fact of life for elites who are wealthy enough to routinely let slip the bonds of gravity. Proponents offer a utopian vision of seamless convenience and efficiency that delivers broad-based societal benefits. The inevitable reality is that flying cars will confer advantages on direct users while exacerbating the geographic isolation of elites—a spatial manifestation of deepening inequality that undermines the shared experiences that are necessary to sustain democracy. Additionally, removing distance as a constraint in metropolitan development and land use will have profoundly negative consequences for the environment.
The desire for transportation-induced isolation is not new. In the 20th century, interstate highways served as the conduit for racial, ethnic, and income segregation. The combination of expanding automobile ownership and supportive infrastructure allowed developers to tap into vast stretches of land around center cities. By reducing the friction of distance, highways acted as a centrifugal force on cities, undermining through sprawl the racial integration that political movements and courts had sought to implement.
Flying cars threaten to magnify the corrosive effects—both sociopolitical and environmental—of sprawl and segregation by eliminating distance altogether.
[…]
Center for American Progress
This morning Mrs. Middleton and I were watching our recording of last night’s episode of Gutfeld! when the flying car headline popped up in the Fox News scroll. She had to rewind it several times to confirm that it actually was as stupid as it first appeared. So, we put the research department (me) on the case… Lo and behold, the article was real… and a year old… So I apologize if this was already posted on WUWT last year.
If the ChiCom shamdemic and November 2020 coup d’état weren’t bad enough… Now that we are on the verge of finally getting the flying cars we were supposed to have 21 years ago, cancel culture is trying to deny us the opportunity to eliminate “distance altogether”… Well… I’m…
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind. Kevin DeGood is mentally ill.
Japanese could have used them as kamikaze autos in WWII
Just think of the driving test. No traffic from right or left, then .. Wait! No traffic from below or above either, then … Ai, now there’s something coming at 14hours.
The mind boggles.
I haven’t checked his references, but lithium battery development assists flying cars how exactly?
Considering how quickly this article seems to switch from speculating about future technology into pushing a social-political agenda I feel maybe he should have started with Segways.
Instead of flying cars, I rather prefer the idea of flying carpets. Unlike brooms, which are one-seaters, carpets, I understand, can seat up to a dozen. Now if they would just lift that ban on flying carpets (“muggle artefact”)…
“Recent advances in lithium-ion batteries have opened the door to flying car development”
How does a bulky low energy density power source open the door to anything in aeronautical engineering? what a f***ing moron…
Only the ancient hippies were good humans-
Humans have been altering Earth’s land for 12,000 years, study finds (msn.com)
Except when they burnt a continent of course-
Future Eaters Ep.1 – Taming the fire -The thesis and responses from critics (abc.net.au)
Roads and highways are a conduit to communication, commerce and Christmas. Air travel further improves on communication. Take those away and you have isolation and restriction.
Too narrow a view can obstruct appreciation and cripple progress. Those seeking forced change almost always get it wrong especially when envy is involved.
Some people simply do not want to live in stack and packs. Or sit on 5th Ave for 3 hours waiting to get to the Queens Expressway. Its not racism, its quality of life.
Imagine what the world would be like if every new thing was declared “racist” and must be forbidden. Now imagine it’s 2007 and Apple’s new iPhone was just released, declared “racist” and must be forbidden. What would the world be like today if that had actually happened?
David, so glad that you are watching Gutfeld. Not all of it is great but it sure beats anything else. Some of Gutfeld’s monologes are brilliant.
Given the typical driver, flying cars will result in piles of flying car debris strewn all over the cities.
Realistically, it would require licensing similar to airplanes, at which point what’s really the difference?
If you think the Interstate Highway system was racist, wait until the Galactic Transporter is installed.
I cannot say what my first reaction was, but I WANT MY FLYING CARS AND I WANT THEM NOW.