> At some point they will be viable

Why do you assume this?

Because at some point we used wood for wheels?

How does wood --> inflated rubber imply inflated rubber--> airless rubber? I don't see any logic in that.

You can still use wood if you want.

Many of the reasons you don't are the same reasons airless tires have not escaped niches.

Hmm, not the worst idea. But who makes wood tires for bikes nowadays? And oh God, the splinters :D

We still do use wood for wheels... So...

Because this is primarily a materials science problem, and we are still novices at materials science.

There does not have to exist a solid material with the properties of a gas.

What? I don't understand what you mean by that.

There's no reason to assume this is a solvable problem, just because it's a new field. I remember when cold fusion was considered inevitable.

You don't actually have any reason to assume it will happen other than blind optimism.

... you don't actually have any reason to assume it won't happen other than blind pessimism. So let's just agree to disagree.

I love to disagree because I'm a betting man. Want to wager some money on a bet? Pick a timeline (5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years) and maybe we can make this fun!

lol. No bet. Not because I doubt my position (I see an aerogel-inspired material working out). Rather because the 50 year timeline that I would feel safe betting on is basically my end-of-life. I'm not really interested in paying out a longbets.org payment on my deathbed.

As he said, more or less. Sorry for being cryptic.

"There's no reason to assume this is a solvable problem"