Sci-Fi Tech We Could Have Right Now (For a Price)

PlainBlack writes "Possibility isn't limited by technology. And it's certainly not limited by human imagination. What makes something impossible is the lack of cold, hard, cash. Wired blog takes a look at 10 science fiction technologies we could build, if they weren't so expensive. 'New York-L.A. Maglev Express - Cost: $70bn (Based on established construction costs). At $70bn, it's tantalizingly affordable by the standards of this roundup: a train that could beat airliners from one side of the country to the other. Many agree that Maglev has enormous potential. Bite-sized examples are in operation all over the world. Birmingham, England, had the first in the 1980s, though the promise of airliner-like speeds on land is still unrealized. The British system sped along at a pathetic 26MPH and was designed to get air travelers to the planes, not to outrun them.'"

Comments

70 billion dollars for an LA-NY maglev train...

[Anonymous Coward]

And the war in Iraq has cost how much so far?

Re:70 billion dollars for an LA-NY maglev train...

[Ucklak]

And we, the citizenry get no benefits compared to the space program of years past.
Sure, prosthetics, bionics, and portable power comes to mind but damn, Tang, Velcro, RO water benefits everyone.