I've been a little detached lately and keep daydreaming in my free time. This wasn't an issue for most of my life, but now I'm working 60+ hours a week and the daydreaming tends to take away from hobbies and quality time with my wife. I'm hoping that writing will help me organize my thoughts a little bit, so here it goes.
I've been thinking a lot about flying lately. I keep imagining having an airship that I cruise around the world in, with a launchable airplane (PBY Catalina! Yes it would be a very large airship) to do some exploring. I'm an engineer, so I can't help but think about design features that I would incorporate. A pool on the roof, strategically placed panoramic windows and balconies, and an observatory jump to mind. Did I mention that I'm an engineer? I can't help but think about the cost as well. Tens of millions at least, and that probably underdeveloped and unsafe. Hundreds of millions would probably get into the ballpark. Even with extensive automation you would need a watch crew, or a very dedicated family, and all of them licensed to operate lighter-than-air craft. My wife gets motion sick... Oh well.
I'm a little bit of a technophobe. Anywhere you can access the internet these days it seems that all people do is talk about the future of technology. I don't care for the thought of putting our brains in computers. Seems to me that people would just lose themselves in the post-singularity version of WoW, or whatever the kids are playing these days. Or just keep themselves dosed with virtual morphine for eternity. There's a difference between being able to model a phenomenon, like brain activity, and truly understanding it (look up "emergence" sometime if you want to kill an afternoon). I don't know that people would really be all that much smarter as machines. I guess they would have a lot more time on their hands, which in my experience is just motivation to waste it. Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't go Butlerian here and go back to analog.
(Yes, I realize the irony of saying this while keeping an online, public blournal, maybe I'm crying out. On the other hand, I'm writing this on a vintage 2007 laptop.)
Anyway. Part of my problem here is I spend all of my time thinking about random stuff like this. Just once I want to plan a date night for my wife that would knock her socks off. She's a girlie girl, and loves crafting and baking and playing with our frou frou dog. She's very Type-A, and I'm definitely Type-B, so she tends to initiate most of our activities together. I guess I've just gotta get out there and do it.
I think that's enough self-indulgence for one day. Until next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment