THE LONG HISTORY OF THE FUTURE

A science journalist investigates flying cars and other extravagant technological promises that have failed to get off the ground.

It was sci-fi writer William Gibson who said that the future is already here; it’s just very unevenly distributed. Kobie, a contributing editor at Wired and the futures editor at PC Pro, would probably agree, as she romps through a series of gee-whiz ideas for machines that have failed to fulfill their much-hyped promise. The author examines AI, robots, hyperloop transport, brain-computer interfaces, and smart cities, among other concepts, with her eyes open and tongue in her cheek. She chronicles her attendance at trade shows featuring slightly creepy robots and interviews with optimistic inventors, and she tracks through the relevant history, noting that the first regulatory approval for a flying car in the U.S. was in 1956. She even rode in a driverless car, after which she concluded that there is not much need for one. Some of these ideas sounded good on paper or in the lab but ran aground due to persistent technical problems, such as power requirements. For others, there is simply not enough demand for large-scale production. AI systems are progressing, but they remain a long way from the predicted models. Corporations and governments have invested billions into these projects, and there seems to be no end to the stream of venture capital. Kobie is not against scientific inquiry for its own sake, but she believes that the money and brainpower involved could be more effectively used to provide practical solutions for daily problems. “We don’t need smart cities,” she writes. “We need good ones. Liveable ones. We need sustainable ones.” It is an important idea, rounding out an enjoyable, interesting book.

Kobie has a great time exploring high-tech ideas that have fallen flat, writing with expertise and humor.