Wah--where is my flying car?

I love mid-century modern furnishings. I have a Jetson's coffee table--orange, of course. I cowrote a script about Raymond Loewy, the renowned industrial designer.

But where are all the future things I was promised? I saw a story about a drone that delivers food to your table in a restaurant. This is not a flying car!

Jennifer Forker, Arizona Republic, Aug 4, 2013, writes about a book by Gregory Benford called The Future That Never Was.

Basically he says just because something CAN be built does not mean it SHOULD be or WILL be.

There are personal flying devices--they just aren't much use or much good.

One idea that flopped was plastic furniture--I mean, all plastic--you would clean house with a hose.

Not comfy. Also maybe a little soggy.

We do have picture phones--Skype.

We have smart homes that you can regulate from afar--but they can be hacked or maybe even lock you in. I once wrote about NASA's House of the Future--and the people who lived in it to test it liked the dishwasher best--they didn't have one at home.

Future models of Google Glass, the eyeglass computer, will have facial recognition--you can walk around a party and everyone's name and digits will come up before you talk to them.

Pretty soon, futurists say, we can skip the glasses and interface with our brain.

Stalker's Paradise.

Look out! Here comes my burger! Duck!

By the way, what happened to "futurists"--we used to hear more about them.