10 Futuristic Inventions We're Still Waiting For

Sorry, but no flying car for you
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 17, 2010 4:32 PM CDT
Google Plans Self-Driving Car, But These Other Futuristic Predictions Have Yet to Pan Out
Harrison Martin takes a jet pack for a test flight at the annual EAA Airventure Fly-in Tuesday, July 29, 2008, in Oshkosh, Wis ... but good luck buying one of these as a civilian.   (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

We may soon be getting self-driving cars, but—much to the chagrin of Back to the Future fans everywhere—still no hoverboards. Time lists 10 more futuristic predictions that haven’t exactly panned out:

  • Jet packs: OK, so these exist, but you probably can’t buy one. Popularized in a James Bond flick and, of course, The Rocketeer, in real life these remain available only to astronauts.
  • Meal pills: Remember when George Jetson just took a pill instead of sitting down to dinner? If we tried to do that, we’d need to swallow at least a half-pound to get the required amount of calories each day.

  • Flying cars: Speaking of Jetson, he had one of these, too. And there’s good news! At least one program is looking into creating one, although it sounds more like a plane than a car.
  • Teleportation: Physicists have looked into whether this would be possible using wormholes, but so far, Scotty cannot yet be beamed up.
  • Intelligent cyborgs: There are humans with “cyborg” parts, sure, but we have yet to create the Terminator.
For the complete list, click here. For some pretty neat things we have invented, click here. (More future stories.)

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