Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1998
Autos and advances in technology
Thomas M. Miovas, Jr.
However, speaking of what is not reported and old technology
oriented magazines, whatever happened to the nuclear powered
automobile or the personal "gyro-copter", projected in 1950 to
be available by 1975? Here it is nearly 25 years *after* that
date, and we are still driving piston cars.
We don't have nuclear powered personal vehicles, or
self-contained, nuclear powered homes, for that matter, because
of government regulations. Anyone in engineering can probably
come up with a hundred innovations proposed at the turn of the
century -- or 25 years thence -- and realize we could all be
*much* better off had we not lost many freedoms. Modern
technology magazines have lost the flare for such projections,
partially because one can't project what will be regulated 25
years into the future.
Aside from regulations, there is a more fundamental issue, and
that is the loss of respect for *reason* -- and the technology
it brings -- in this country after WWII. Philosophy, after all,
is the reason behind the reason why people tend to turn towards
regulation, rather than freedom, these days.
