[extropy-chat] thank evolution for the interstate highway system

[Don Dartfield]

On Mon, 1 Dec 2003, Spike wrote:

> If all tax dollars were spent as well as they are on the good old
> interstate highway system, well then, even *I* would be in favor of
> taxes, and this is *me* talking.

OK, so here's a question I was pondering briefly the other day: if all of
the money spent on the Interstates since their inception had been instead
pumped into R&D for several companies like Moller, would we have
competitively-priced flying cars yet?  And if we did have (VTOL) flying
vehicles, would we still need roads?

The reason I was thinking about it is that I recently finished reading 
Robert J. Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, where the Neanderthal 
society in an alternate universe has developed advanced technology while 
maintaining their hunter-gatherer ways, and although they have flying 
vehicles and helicopters, they never invented roads, or even non-VTOL 
aircraft with their required long clearings for takeoff and landing.  And 
I was wondering how feasible this was -- wouldn't you still need roads for 
shipping heavy items?