In another system for development, though, you have people at the top who think that their idea is the only one that will work, or their method is the only one that will get the job done. Centralized thinking means few choices, and the chances of coming up with an optimal choice are slim. Even then, you will have mavericks who will go their own way anyway; think "NASA".
The 1600 Resident may not like how long it's taking -- and that's true for the last half-dozen or so residents before him as well. We're seeing some promising technology on many fronts; we're also seeing the downsides now, too. (Windmill gearboxes, anyone?) Even something as old as electric cars has not progressed to the point where an electric can compete well with its hydrocarbon-driven counterparts. Did you know that electric cars were first demonstrated in the 1830s?
How about alternative fuels? LPG is already in commercial use, but the infrastructure isn't in place to support a broad customer base like the American population. Slush hydrogen isn't out of the lab...yet. Flintstone-mobiles don't work well at all in the hills of San Francisco. Solar powered vehicles? Try taking one through a tunnel...although the trials of solar-powered aircraft look promising. The whole bio-fuel thing runs up against tension between food and go-juice, until someone finds a crop that isn't food, too. And, of course, there is the fuel that hasn't been thought up yet.
(Bell Labs used to develop project plans that had the milestone "here a miracle occurs". It was amazing how many times those projects met that particular milestone. But then again, Bell Labs has a lot of people working pure science, so those miracles could happen.)
Wish all you want, Mr. Present. But the real advances will be made by people funded by private investors, investors who want to see a return. Not everyone has to win. Just some have to win for capitalism to work, and work well.
And who knows, some mad scientist may indeed come up with Flubber, or something like it, that will allow all of us around the world to look at a completely new way of travel. "Here a miracle occurs."
THANKS!
It goes beyond that even.
Washington and especially the left think you can force invention, just demand it be made and it becomes a reality. For instance, they demand pie-in-the-sky fleet fuel economy. They are never satisfied with what exists or is in the pipeline. They demand orders of magnitude improvement.
Well, fuel economy becomes a matter of cost, power plant design, and weight and drag of the vehicle. The left doesn't care about the cost, the invention and production of a radically different power plant just can't wished into existence, so the only place to go for real dramatic improvement is the weight and drag of the vehicle.
We will be riding around in aerodynamic cracker boxes that weight next to nothing and go less than 5 mph if the left has their way. I do realize there are some cutting edge power plants in the wings, but practicality and cost come into play. So does willingness of investors. But reality means nothing to Washington or the left.