8 Sci-Fi Inventions Ruined By Science

In the age where a great deal of our childhood science-fiction seems to become reality on an almost daily basis, we still find ourselves at a crossroads between our imaginative past and our realistic future.

However, with all the notorious achievements made over the past several decades, one really does have to start questioning whether or not we are about to reach our limitations when it comes to the more exciting inventions many of us have all been looking forward to.

Because to love of science comes with the burden of being both a dreamer and a skeptic, we have to accept the possibility that (*whispers*) we might never get our hoverboards.

Whether I truly want to admit it or not, if only for the sake of this article, I am cashing in on reality, and I am bringing you all down with me. So, grab some tissue and/or get ready to yell at me over social media. To be fair, though, it's really not my fault. Some of the blame is owed to the man, above. No. Not that one. Einstein. See him up there? He knew what he was ruining with the theory of relativity. He knew it.

Sigh.

Here are eight rather glorious concepts given to us by sci-fi and ruined by reality, and a little bit by Einstein.

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads…

Our grandparents were promised a flying car. Our parents were promised a flying car. We were promised a flying car. It’s like we’ve been sitting in an Oprah audience for nearly a century but without the payoff. With the future from Back to the Future now in our rearview, most of us are still rocking the wheel - a technology that was invented in the Bronze Age .

But wait, you say! Less than a month ago, The Washington Post reported on an FAA exemption issued to Terrafugia for their vehicle, the Transition. A flying car, in other words.

Right you are, and although it may sound like we’re on the right track when it comes to regulating such a craft, can we really claim such a vessel is a flying car. I know I’m picking at semantics, but the Transition is just a plane that happens to convert into a car. Terrafugia’s next project, the TF-X, is closer to what we imagined, and more than a decade out, but, again, it’s still not quite what we envisioned. How many level clearings of at least 100ft in diameter do you have in your city? Doesn't this just seem like the Amphicar all over? Because that worked well...

What about drone based tech? Sure. Maybe. Although, considering we’re now debating legal No Fly Zones over private property, and that the FAA has already experienced drone issues at airports, our infrastructure just isn’t suitable.