Okay, it's late. I'm still settling in from a big move and my brains feel a little carbonated. That means the 6502 that runs my BrainOS occasionally comes up with some really inane stuff. Like this goofy car-related idea that I encourage all you budding sci-fi writers to work into your stories.
Here's the concept: in the future, stable wormholes — also called Einstein-Rosen bridges, holes in the fabric of spacetime that tunnel to another location in spacetime — are able to be created at will, with the restriction that their diameters are limited to, say, 5 feet, and the distance covered by the wormhole can only be, oh, 500 miles. That's way to small to use for sending, say a spaceship anywhere, and too close to be really exciting for exploration. So what do we use it for?
Let's say the power requirements for maintaining these wormholes is fairly modest. Now here's the car-related part: these wormholes are primarily used as a means to give any car a colossal trunk.
A wormhole-trunk-equipped car has a conventional-looking trunk opening, but once you lift the lid, you're staring right into the eye-confusing glow of a stable wormhole. One end is set into the trunk of your car, and the other is in orbit around the earth, 300-500 miles above.
A virtual ring in this area has been separated off, and whatever cargo you stick in your trunk ends up in orbit, corralled into an area tagged for your car by small, automated micro-satellites. That means that your sleek 2089 Jaguar M-Type with its tiny rear deck can actually swallow 16 32-foot tree trunks, no problem.
You'd need to be aware that whatever you're putting in the trunk will end up in the cold vacuum of space, and special gloves would be sold so you can reach into the wormhole and grab your suitcases or bicycles or whatever without danger of frostbite.
And, the earth will have a nice belt of random luggage, which should cause no issues at all for satellites, right?
Okay. There's your prompt. How would a world of trunk-wormholes affect our lives?