No, we will not. Okay, wait — maybe. True, we will almost definitely not have them as they were in The Rocketeer, or Minority Report (or this!) or, happily, Family Guy. But we may have something, someday. If you ask certain experts, however, they do not sound optimistic about that day arriving any time soon.

Bill Suitor, known to some as Mr. Jetpack, was the primary pilot for Bell Aerosystems’ work on its government-funded Rocket Belt in the late 1950s and ’60s. When I heard Bill speak at the First International Rocket Belt Convention in Niagara, N.Y., in the summer of 2006 he suggested that with the right amount of money (many millions) and the right amount of smarts and innovation (Gates-ian), it is theoretically possible to transition from what Bell was doing with hydrogen-peroxide-powered rockets to longer flying jet technology. But Bill also acknowledged that in the 50 years since the hard working, hard drinking Bell engineer Wendell Moore (see photo) dreamed up his Belt, no one has been able to significantly push the technology forward or improve on the 20-second flight time. There are companies out there — mostly in the wide-open spaces of the West — trying, but it’s a damn tricky thing to crush gravity. Besides, Bill is the guy who warned against a future where the sky was dotted with jetpacks, saying that if you thought road rage was bad, wait until you get a gruesome gander at sky rage.

But let’s not lose heart! I once attended a taping of the Colbert Report. Before the show started, Stephen Colbert fielded questions from the audience as himself, not his character. That is, as the real-life genius he appears to be. And when I stood up to ask my question — will we ever really have jetpacks? — Stephen didn’t hesitate at all in answering: yes.

So there’s that.

Yet the future is always far away. In the meantime, we can enjoy the heroic jetpacking projects undertaken by folks all around the world. Last week I mentioned Gerard Martowlis, a chemical-waste expert and father of two. Gerard has been tinkering for years on a backyard project that would, essentially, recreate the work of Wendell Moore, Bill Suitor and the rest of the Bell gang. And he’s not the only one. Stuart Ross is a commercial airline pilot living in Sussex, England, an hour train ride outside of London. He’s been at it as long as Gerard and has had some luck testing his machine on the tether system he built over a stretch of turf on his acre-wide farm. Down in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Juan Lozano has snagged a bit of well-earned attention for his own work emulating Moore’s Rocket Belt. And there are others. While working on my book about jetpacks I visited both Stuart and Juan and found their stories of passion, obsession, dedication, power tools and protective eyewear rather inspiring. I want them to succeed as much as I want anyone pursuing the breathtaking, the quixotic, and the heroic to succeed. Which is a lot.

But — like you — I am also looking for a little more. A true breakthrough. A masterpiece of physics. A rebuke to Earthly shackles. As a math-challenged non-engineer I cannot say with any great confidence that we will see it in our lifetime. Or even in the lifetimes of my daughters (sorry but check out this pic of my older kid trying one on!). So for now I must defer to smarter people, to people who know better, to Stephen Colbert. Will we ever really have jetpacks? I want to finally be emphatic on this, so I will: I hope so!