The Observation Deck

My wife and I went to see a movie the other day ("The Ugly Truth"). Before that we saw the second Transformers franchise flick. During previews for the latter film, a story idea was fleshed out onscreen - taking video gaming to the next level by replacing virtual warfighters with real people, a mix of "Death Race," "The Running Man," and [pick your favorite violent video game].

Today, while researching the latest in technology for finding lost airplanes, including the old keyfinder and a new RF beacon, I came across an advert for immersion flight kits (discussion).

I am just like you, capable of imagining futures galore, utopian or dystopian, with an ecumenopolis or solar system of ecumenopoleis, ruled by a dictator, triumvirate, oligopoly, democratic republic or communist state. Typically, the futures I see are not homogeneous; rather, they contain a wide variety of conditions due to our species' degrees of taste for change.

But a future where we can virtually fly planes and drive vehicles is no future. Instead, today's technology allows us to be there now.

I think I mentioned to you the story from my youth about the magician, Merlin, who transformed his protege', Arthur, into animals. Well, with the right-sized equipment, I can now see the world through another animal's eyes using an immersion kit, can't I, directing the animal as if I'm in the animal's body? While the Richard Bransons of the world build their astronaut programs, I'm getting closer to my dream of being another species for a day so I can see our planet's interconnectivity from other than a single species' perspective - that's a frontier worth exploring, in my view [pun intended].