Will mass jet-packing ever take off?

Years ago, I dreamed of a future where the then not invented jet pack would be the main form of commuter transport, at least. Every morning, we were all going to don the j-pack together with the business suit, before grabbing the briefcase with the sandwiches inside. No more traffic jams, bus-waiting anxiety or train station tantrums. We were simply going to power on our j-packs and, like human bumblebees, hover over rooftops and gardens and roadways deserted of people, aside from a few die-hard pedestrians and motorists. “Good morning” we would all say to one another politely, before landing our feet in front of the office, school or university, wherever we were headed.

Jumping jezebels and jiving jitterbugs – no wonder JK Rowling triumphed! Hogwarts itself wasn’t so packed with fantasies; at least Harry, Hermione and the others learned how to fly on broomsticks. In my musings, I had never imagined the hazards in store for humans making free in unregulated air-space. Gracious, we can’t even get it right when we are on the ground. A mere glance out of my window reveals telegraph poles and tree branches, electric wires and chimney pots, birds and even, a distant church spire, all in addition to the certainty of colliding with other humans. Other hazards include the possibility of the j-pack malfunctioning and the subject crashing to earth at his peril and that of others. With all those j-packers making free over private gardens, prison yards and other verboten spaces, trespass law as we know it would have to be redefined. Aside from such minor matters, who would choose daily stratospheric exposure to inclement weather and bird droppings before landing in on a business meeting in preference to a relaxing journey in a vehicle interior, accompanied by hot coffee and the morning paper? The problem with mass jet-packing is that it is just too democratic, humans reduced to functional units defined by a hard hat and a flying suit. The underlying truth is that every human function is intertwined with a narrative of social status. The reason that a j-packing London mayor caught the news was because it was an exclusive experience. It will require another human evolution for j-packing to take off, en masse. We will have to learn how to never collide with each other or anything else, and to never fly over anyone else’s private space. And then pigs really will fly to the moon! https://www.cityam.com/boris-s-vision-jetpack-future-already-here/