Standard railways have a track gauge of less than 1.5 meters. Back in the 1930s, Hitler planned the Breitspurbahn, broad-gauge railway with a track gauge of 3 meters. No dramatic new tech required, but it would seriously scale up transportation by rail of people and goods. Hitler planned to connect many European cities with them.
None of that happened. We’re still using the old track gauge, and European connections are relatively mediocre. But we’ve landed on the Moon and we’ve all got smartphones in our pockets.
Planned developments with relatively straightforward tech regularly don’t happen. Surprising new tech regularly disrupts all plans.
I’m not saying the future is completely unknowable, but your three requirements don’t seem too matter very much when you look for similar scenarios in history.
Standard railways have a track gauge of less than 1.5 meters. Back in the 1930s, Hitler planned the Breitspurbahn, broad-gauge railway with a track gauge of 3 meters. No dramatic new tech required, but it would seriously scale up transportation by rail of people and goods. Hitler planned to connect many European cities with them.
None of that happened. We’re still using the old track gauge, and European connections are relatively mediocre. But we’ve landed on the Moon and we’ve all got smartphones in our pockets.
Planned developments with relatively straightforward tech regularly don’t happen. Surprising new tech regularly disrupts all plans.
I’m not saying the future is completely unknowable, but your three requirements don’t seem too matter very much when you look for similar scenarios in history.