The immediate payoff is that the blind will see–through video cameras–and the deaf hear. The longer run may be a world where most of the important stuff consists of signals moving from one brain to another over a network, with physical acts by physical bodies playing only a minor role. To visit a friend in England there is no need to move either his body or mine–being there is as easy as dialing the phone. That is one of many reasons why I do not expect gasoline powered automobiles to play a major role in transportation a century from now.