Re: Interesting hype about a secret project

[Patrick Salsbury <salsbury at sculptors dot com>]

On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 08:01:20PM -0600, Charles J Knight wrote:
> > Kids have had futuristic looking robot-transformer 
> > toys
> > that can change from a robot to a plane to a motorcycle. But do we 
> > ever build these things larger than 12"? No. 
> 
> I always wondered why we didn't use the Transformers toys as
> a basis for folding bikes.  Most folding bicycles are surprisingly
> primitive in their folding scheme...the transformers toys were
> much more sophisticated, even in their day.  I could see a bike that
> folded into a lounge chair, or some such thing, for when you reach
> your destination.
> 
> The closest we've come to that ideal is the sofa-bed, which folds so
> ingeniously into itself...that level of creativity should be introduced
> in other areas as well.  I suppose the futon is comparable...
> 
	Precisely my point. I've seen only a couple of concept-bikes
(motorcycles) that could modify their overall dimensions, seat angles, etc.
Yet watch any Japanimation and you'll see fantastic looking motorcycles.
Even if they don't transform into something else, they still look about 40
years ahead of anything that even Japan produces in real bikes!

> >         Why is that? Why have there always been futuristic looking
> > concept-cars since the 1940's or 1950's, but you never see them on 
> > the road? Just blocky-looking Oldsmobile-type rolling bricks.
> 
> Uh, remember Chrysler?  They've become known for producing very 
> daring (though very retro-future) concept cars like the Viper and the
> Prowler, two of my favorite exotic cars.  Look at Chrysler's products
> and the offerings of others (except the Ford Focus) and you'll see an
> obvious distinction.  Chrysler has actually managed to turn a LOT of
> their concept cars into reality.
> 
	I suppose, although only in extremely small numbers. They don't
seem to trust "the common man", even though they seem to try and seduce him
with far-out pictures on the cover of each month's "Popular Mechanics" or
"Car and Driver". Look at the cover art of the magazines in aggregate, then
look at the street. 
	I have a book called the "Encyclopedia of Dream Cars". The first
2/3 is full of actual cars you can get, such as BMW's and Aston Martins,
but the last 1/3 is the section that I really like. It's all the concept
cars, the prototypes, and the odd, spacey-looking things that really look
like something out of "Bladerunner". (Which was all designed by Syd Mead,
by the way. ;^)  ) They design these cars, they build one prototype, then
they mothball the whole thing. Why?
	
> It took a nearly 5 year letter writing campaign, before Chrysler
> produced the Prowler street-rod.  Since that outpouring from the
> public, their marketing department seems to have rethought their
> position.  Granted, it was a niche car, but it's one of the few that
> people actually WANTED rather than "settled for."  It was also
> so popular, that there was a WAITING LIST!
> 
>      -- Chuck Knight

	This is another thing I'd like to see Reality Sculptors do: I'd
like to find all those people who are far-out designers, working in the
concept-car shops in Detroit, and the model-making studios and costume
shops near Hollywood, spaceship designers at NASA, and all the other 
folks who are wildly creative, but frustrated that they don't see their
ideas come to fruition...and I'd like to get them all working together.
I'd like to see just what sort of wild and wacky stuff we could produce if
we had "Star Trek" set designers helping to design the interior decor of
our office buildings and the buildings of our floating cities. I'd like to
see what the cars look like as they go down the streets, or through the
air... 
	I'm tired of waiting for someone else to suddenly come to their
senses and reward these folks for being creative geniuses... I think we
should just gather as many of them together as possible in high-tech,
futuristic, self-sufficient communities and see what sort of cool creative
explosion we get when we achieve Critical Mass. :-)

-- 
Pat
	   ___________________Think For Yourself____________________
	 Patrick G. Salsbury - http://reality.sculptors.com/~salsbury/
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	   ---------------------------------------------------------
    Anarchy doesn't mean out of control; it means out of _their_ control.