Quote -

Everyone talks about advances in technology but have we really advanced all that much? I can remember being a kid and reading popular science where by this time we would have had cars that hovered, there was no such thing as fossil fuels and everything was more environmentally kind to the Earth. What happened to that stuff??

Look at the computer you are typing this message on.  Look at the means your message is
getting out to the entire world.  Now was anything like this available when that 1955
Ford Fairlane was built? For that matter, did that Ford Fairlane have a computer in it
that monitored the fuel injectors, the spark, the timing, the emissions, like modern cars?
Hover cars are a stupid idea because you would expend a great deal of energy
keeping the car suspended in the air.  Rubber tires are for more energy efficient.
Fossil fuels are still used because even now they are the cheapest and most
abundent and easiest to use fuel available.