Flight and truth

We were born to fly, yet somehow got grounded over time. By the way, bats are creatures to love being our chief representative in the flying realm.

So, there is no need to analyze too much our infatuation with flight and the vehicles that support flight. It's built-in.

Too, simulators of flight grab us. I was recently at the Air and Space museum in Washington, DC (one of innumerable visits to both) and witnessed the seemingly undying appeal of the displays. Albeit, being enthralled with technology is part of the interest (more on computation below).

Now, this post could also have been titled 'Truth and flight' (perhaps, there will be another later). But, if we focus on flight, we'll see that it involves hard truths. Getting from one place to another by means of the airplane may be the safest way to travel, yet the consequences of failure can be severe.

That leads to the interests in new means and in how they might be proven prior to general adoption.

But, it goes further, as flight can be a metaphor for several things. We fly in google space and in other virtual places, though it is without the potential 'severe' consequences. Prior to those simulations afforded to us by modern apparatuses, people 'flew' in abstract space concocted in their heads. An older person might wonder how well the computer-enabled flying compares to what was done with wet-ware (an open issue) embedded in abstraction.

The flying dream has its place, to boot (is that a big T issue?).

So, what's the point? A program that is highly visible and that is working on new methods for us to fly with will get attention; some of the reaction will be awe; some might be critical, more or less; in any case, some can't wait for the outcome, others want to see more information about the process.

Granted there a limits to what we can or are allowed to know. Yet, since flight is our natural right, in a sense, we will continue our fascination (minds want to know).