Times Had Changed

Change always seems to creep up on people.  Maybe not as individuals, but certainly as a collective group.  So it was with mobile phones and so it was with transportation.  Yes, doesn't really sound that exciting, and it really wasn't.  Except that it changed everything.  Again.  And again.  This time, though gradually, it would have consequences that nobody thought much about until after the change had already come.

For years better transportation and logistics meant that where you made something mattered less and less.  Assembling those iPhones in China made sense despite the fact that essentially none of the chips or parts going into them were actually made in China.  That's all well and good, we got used to that.  But things went to a whole other level when people just stopped living places.  No, homelessness did not suddenly explode in either popularity or prevalence, but people started taking to the skies in ways that were wholly unlike hopping on an airplane to visit NYC.

But that was how it started.  Large airships of high efficiency and low cost which needed no runways.  Suddenly, Pier 81 on the west side of Manhattan became a bustling port of entry.  Sure they were just flights from Boston and DC at first, but they were super quick, reliable.  A bit too much like the Bolt Bus.  Except there was never any traffic.  And they were faster.  But now, 2,000 people could leave Columbus Circle in DC and arrive in NYC in two hours.  Not just those paying $250 for an Acela ticket (though there were expensive first class tickets if you wanted them), but the humble among us who were fine travelling with others who had only $25 to scrape together to journey onward.  That was mildly exciting (mostly to east coasters), but things didn't really get big until people stopped going "home".

For sure, there is nothing like having your own space to go back to after a long day at the office or whatever space your chosen profession takes you.  But things get quite interesting when everybody's personal space doesn't stay still.  Think mobile homes in the sky.  You can't fly them (all autonomous by law), but you get picked up and spend the evening in the air on whatever pattern of the city you preferred the most.  Though some cities had paid "preferred routes" most people just skirted off into the underpopulated airspace and enjoyed a quiet evening with friends and family.