TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to Throw Forward Thursday. My name is Graeme Codrington, and every week we leap somewhere into the future and see what’s going on. Today we’re not going too far into the future as we start a short mini-series on transportation. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to have a look at a number of remarkable advances that are coming soon to a world near you.
But today we’re going to start that mini-series by looking at a personal transportation option in the future that’s already here – it’s jetpacks. Yes, anybody who has watched Hollywood movies from Back to the Future to the Jetsons, will know the dream of us being able to personally fly around, whether it’s a hoverboard from Back to the Future, or whether it’s some kind of strap-on jet pack that can propel us through the air. We all love to fly. We all dream of being able to fly. Some of us are literally dream of being able to fly. So, this is something that we’d really like to get right. Most of the current technologies involve a little bit of jet propulsion, which can be a touch dangerous, so probably moving towards using drone technology.
We know that drones are capable of lifting objects. You can put a camera on a drone and some more powerful drones should be to have people standing on them. And then you could go a step further. And if a jet pack might be a little bit too dangerous, well, then maybe something more like the Dubai Police are already using, which looks more like a motorbike with four drone type devices attached to the bottom.
Now, these are being used in the real world at the moment, as I say, that Dubai Police are using drone sort of motorbikes that can fly above the traffic. That’s pretty cool. And in fact, the UK Navy is using these to allow Marines to go from a small little craft onto a larger ship, or something in the ocean. And that might have commercial uses at the moment, as ships come into harbours all around the world, they have to send out a pilot boat, drop a ladder over the side, the pilot climbs up into the ship and actually steers the ship into the harbour. We could now let that pilot get himself out to the ship on a jetpack. And of course, you could use jetpacks for construction work, there is a variety of applications, including, of course, I guess, some kind of sporting activity that would be fun, wouldn’t it? Seeing people flying around and chasing each other. And I don’t know, I come from a family that’s pretty much into the Harry Potter books, we could actually do Quidditch now using these jetpacks.
So, maybe this week Throw Forward Thursday isn’t as sort of mind blowing as some of our weeks together are, but it kicks off for us a series that I think you’re going to find incredibly interesting over the next few weeks as we look at transportation options of the future. For me, I’d love jetpack. I think it would be a whole lot of fun. I’m not sure it has too many uses besides just fun for me, but if they become available, I’m sure we’d find out what we could use them for.
Throw Forward Thursday, thank you for joining me in our Throw forward Thursday studio. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast if that’s how you’re listening. Sign up on YouTube if that’s where you’re watching and I’ll see you next week as we talk about, well, think about this in the next seven days – driverless cars yeah, we know those are coming. But what would happen if they were compulsory? If every car was driverless? How might that change the world? Maybe I’ll leave that thought with you. We’ll come back to it next week.
Graeme Codrington, is an internationally recognized futurist, specializing in the future of work. He helps organizations understand the forces that will shape our lives in the next ten years, and how we can respond in order to confidently stay ahead of change. Chat to us about booking Graeme to help you Re-Imagine and upgrade your thinking to identify the emerging opportunities in your industry.
For the past two decades, Graeme has worked with some of the world’s most recognized brands, travelling to over 80 countries in total, and speaking to around 100,000 people every year. He is the author of 5 best-selling books, and on faculty at 5 top global business schools.