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Comment by zepearl | Hacker News Reader

> Can I have my flying car now?

Let's not forget the flying skateboard of the film "Back to the future". I loved it in the film and it's a dream that I still have today - I'm now almost 50 years old so I would probably crash and get killed by using it, but I would still give it a try :)

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There's no need to wait for flying skateboards, you can buy a regular skateboard at any shop around town and crash and get killed by using it.

(Said in jest by someone who recently turned 41 and hurt his back playing video games last year)

I remember the feeling, while skateboarding, of the change of the roughness of the ground - some streets (or at least portions thereof) were very smooth and that felt already quite like flying => I wonder how that would feel with 0 surface roughness :)

>hurt his back playing video games last year

Some extreme force-feedback device? :)

Picking up the CRT and throwing it out the window?

Unfortunately, while you can indeed build hoverboards with superconductors and they do work, you still need a magnetic surface for it to ride over. I don't believe generalized hoverboards that will work on all surfaces like BttF are possible.

What about Earth's magnetic field?

It's moving all the time. Next year you won't be able to skate the same locations as of today because of this :(

Well not with that attitude

Honestly, with that kind of superconductor, it may be easier and cheaper to cover the ground in superconducting material, and keep the magnets (or superconducting electromagnet) on your hoverboard!

"Hoverboards don't work on water!!"... or any non-magnetic surface :)

Wouldn't a hoverboard with rockets on the bottom and back work? I'm not saying it's feasible, just that it's utilizing the same basic science as jets and space travel.

I think if you look up the smallest rocket that is capable of even lifting you off the ground on an instantaneous basis, let alone over time, you are going to be somewhat surprised at the size. I think you will also decide you don't particularly want to be at point-blank range to this rocket when it goes.

I mean, theoretically, if you loosen the definition of "hoverboard" enough, it might be possible to create something that hovers with you on it, but I don't think you'd accept it as a substitute for the movie hoverboard.

Where is my hoverboard?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOH15_pqWZ4&ab_channel=SETHS...

You are obviously joking but still, give foiling (as in pump foiling, wing foiling or eFoil) a try. It's not the same but the closest you can get, at least within 3 feet over a water surface (which makes crashing a lot more benign)

I mean, yeah, you'd need a very generous marketing budget to make a skatepark full of magnets so we can have hoverboards. Like the one Lexus already built: https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2015/6/25/8846785/lexus-hoverb...

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