The End Of Aviation an article from The New Republic

[SoICanBeFree]

The End Of Aviation

Maybe the gloomy futurists have a point after all, and mass aviation could be coming to an end. No longer would air travel be like the Internet or television--a cheap technology available to virtually anyone, shaping our world in countless little ways. If that happened, the result would mean more than just the end of easy weekend jaunts to Bermuda or annual Christmas visits home. It could mean major shifts in the economy, changes in immigration patterns across the world, and perhaps even a remapping of the planet as we know it.

This is a robust well thought out and written article that everyone here as an aviation community would be missing out on some interesting perspectives if they did not read.

I personally feel we will develop technologically accordingly to continue to support the lifestyle previously cheap oil has/had afforded us. And with that aviation will march on.

Discuss.

 

[PropAddict]

Eh, in the 18th century Parson Malthus (very convincingly) said the world was going to be catastrophically overpopulated by 1850. Along came the Industrial Revolution and urbanization and the rest is history.

I see a similar bit happening in our future. Mankind doesn't, as a general rule, like a abrupt changes to our lifestyle. We use intellect and resiliency to resist catastrophe. Rather than spiraling to the "end of the jet age," I would say we're looking toward an era of higher efficiency machines and novel propulsion technologies for air travel.

Helios proved solar can sorta work and thousands of R/C aviators have shown that batteries can fly. Solar-Satellite-Microwave electricity has been on the horizon for a while, which could be very beneficial for airplanes. Looks like a lot of it's largely a problem of scalability for technologies we already have. Then again, maybe Ayn Rand's static electric engine will be invented and flip the whole thing on it's head.

My point is, I see a lot more potential for technology to advance and save (even expand) air travel than I do for it to die off and change migration patterns.