Driving Towards the Future

When I was a youngster, I had a very clear picture of how my chosen modes of transportation were going to evolve during my lifetime. And for this, I blame two families, in particular – the Flinstones and the Jetsons.

I regularly watched these shows as I planned out what my life was going to be like. (Remember when they met? Awesome.) At that point I was the co-owner of a very sweet vehicle. My sister and I were taking turns tooling around the house and yard in this classic.

It was a great car. One of the only ones I knew of that could be driven inside. Plus, the money we saved on gas? Not too shabby. Of course, our feet would occasionally get tired, but then I’d watch an episode of The Flinstones and think, But look how cool Fred looks! And I’d be back in the car. (My sister and I never did come across any dinosaurs, though. Disappointing. But I just assumed we were looking in the wrong places.)

Still, despite the awesomeness of our car, I knew that it would not always be my first choice. Why? Because I had seen the future. And the Jetsons had shown it to me.

I was totally going to grow up and get my own flying car. It was inevitable. I would look up at the sky and try to figure out the best path to take for my first trip. It would be magical. I figured I’d work somewhere other than Spacely Space Sprockets. Mostly ‘cause I wasn’t entirely sure what a sprocket was. Plus, at that point, I was trying to create my own Rosey out of my Erector Set. So, I was pretty sure I was going to go into robot production. Or become a space rock star. Something along those lines.

Eventually, I was too big to get into my Flinstone-ish car. But that was all right. Flying cars were just around the corner. So, I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And continue to wait.

I still don’t have a flying car. This was extremely disappointing to me until I read that the Jetson family is actually from 2062. So, there’s still time. Not a lot, but some. Given the advanced level of the flying cars during their lifetimes (and the fact that all buildings are built miles off the ground), I figure that production is going to be starting in the next couple years to get us to that point in time. Some have predicted that we will start seeing a mixture of automobile ground and air travel within the next two and a half years, but that may be a little optimistic. I’m okay with waiting a little longer for everything to be up and running, but by the time we reach 2062, I want what was promised to me.

I was discussing this with some coworkers the other day.

One replied, in all seriousness, “But you have Facebook and Twitter and stuff.”

Not the same, my friend. It’s just not the same.