whatever happened to the flying cars?

Science fiction is not for me, I'm a realist and can't put up with other people's imaginations. However, I do like to listen to scientists and engineers talk about what is possible down the road.
My first ten years were in the eighties and predictions about flying cars by the new millenium were common. We would have flying cars, extremely active and intelligent robots that could do almost anything, and many space predictions. Most of the predictions have not come true, however, other things have come about, mostly those that no one even dreamed about.

Did we forget about the flying cars or space or the robots? Well no, robots are still popular and becoming better and better although nowhere near what we had predicted by now. Space is still cool but it seems like there is lots of trouble to get any further and lots of money involved, so progress is excruciatingly slow to the point that people lose their interest and figure it won't be in their lifetimes. Flying cars, well yes, it seems like we have abandoned that one and maybe not for bad reason, it might be difficult to control traffic in busy areas. We at least now have a spaceship for tourists.

What are we predicting for the next thirty years? We have learned that we cannot predict very well so I haven't seen or heard many outlandish predictions in the past ten years. We know that computer chips are going to get smaller, quantum computing might have a say soon, especially in cryptography, but apart from computers and their constant improvement, I haven't heard of any bogus claims. And science fiction seems to be scared. You've got to be careful in what you imagine these days, it might seem very silly very soon.

I hope the world keeps dreaming, re-making science a top priority, and not for wars and weapons, but for medical and social progress. We need more dreamers like Richard Branson, to make realistic imagination a reality. I wonder who will be the headliners, the dreamers, and the do-ers of the next little while. We have had a crazy ride in the past decade technologically and I can't imagine that we will stop. I just want it to be directed in the right direction.