What follows is — depending on how you want to think about it — either a gallery of technologies we lost or an invitation to consider alternate futures. Some of what might have been is fantastical: a subway powered by air, an engine run off the heat of your palm. Some of what we lost, on the other hand, is more subtle, like a better way to bowl or type. As new standards emerge, variety fades, and
![A Brief History of Failure (Published 2014)](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/71c448eb64f1711a6dcd7f282b73d575fbf1cd63/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2014%2F11%2F16%2Fmagazine%2F16innovations_ss-slide-GB8J%2F16innovations_ss-slide-GB8J-articleLarge-v2.jpg%3Fyear%3D2014%26h%3D600%26w%3D600%26s%3Df7217c58ab301ecdeb4b4e2bda1f66bcc91c96e3e553a3988ad8b1f4f9606537%26k%3DZQJBKqZ0VN)