Down the rabbit hole...
This is from a 2013 draft for a post:
Has anyone else had the feeling recently that they're living in a dream? Or more precisely, a novel? Let me share a couple incidents that make me feel that way.
First, Mars One. I came across this project near the end of 2012. Looking through this proposal to send permanent residents to Mars, I couldn't help but feel that it would work. It was surreal to realize that I was seriously considering the plausibility of the plans that would separate humans from their primeval home and plant them on a remote sphere out in space. I really can't lay it out better than that. If you want to get a sense of what I was experiencing read through the pages in the Mission section of the Mars One website. Then again, if you're not inclined to read sci-fi novels, then maybe you won't feel the same way. However this concept ought to rouse some subtle emotions in all of us.
Next, this story posted in The Blaze. Basically, a retired marine spoke to a city council meeting about the militarization of domestic police forces. This article quickly points out a possibly related quote from Barack Obama as he was seeking the presidential office. The relevance is uncanny. Perhaps too much so. I couldn't write a better political dystopian novel if I tried.
Talking about political dystopia, try this City's idea on for size. Somehow somebody decided that eminent domain was an appropriate tool to seize underwater mortgages from banks to help the homeowner's retain their homes... Yeah... there's absolutely no tangible public project for which the houses would be seized, just the idea that this would help prevent blight and loss of tax income due to people moving away. NOT what eminent domain is for.
Not quite last, but definitely not least: diamonds have no intrinsic value and are not really rare. My mind was blown when I read this article from Huffington Post and this article in The Atlantic. Turns out diamond engagement rings are a relatively recent phenomenon. Not only that, but the phenomenon was completely fabricated by De Beers as an advertising / social engineering campaign. Add to this that fabricated diamonds are of similar quality to diamonds and it just feels like we've all been taken for a ride. A very expensive ride.
Oh, and then there's the conflicts in the Middle East. Has anyone else wondered about Armageddon or the end of the world? If not, these wars will get you thinking about it soon enough.
If too much more happens, then I shall have to stop being surprised. After all, isn't the truth stranger than fiction?
Has anyone else had the feeling recently that they're living in a dream? Or more precisely, a novel? Let me share a couple incidents that make me feel that way.
First, Mars One. I came across this project near the end of 2012. Looking through this proposal to send permanent residents to Mars, I couldn't help but feel that it would work. It was surreal to realize that I was seriously considering the plausibility of the plans that would separate humans from their primeval home and plant them on a remote sphere out in space. I really can't lay it out better than that. If you want to get a sense of what I was experiencing read through the pages in the Mission section of the Mars One website. Then again, if you're not inclined to read sci-fi novels, then maybe you won't feel the same way. However this concept ought to rouse some subtle emotions in all of us.
Next, this story posted in The Blaze. Basically, a retired marine spoke to a city council meeting about the militarization of domestic police forces. This article quickly points out a possibly related quote from Barack Obama as he was seeking the presidential office. The relevance is uncanny. Perhaps too much so. I couldn't write a better political dystopian novel if I tried.
Talking about political dystopia, try this City's idea on for size. Somehow somebody decided that eminent domain was an appropriate tool to seize underwater mortgages from banks to help the homeowner's retain their homes... Yeah... there's absolutely no tangible public project for which the houses would be seized, just the idea that this would help prevent blight and loss of tax income due to people moving away. NOT what eminent domain is for.
Not quite last, but definitely not least: diamonds have no intrinsic value and are not really rare. My mind was blown when I read this article from Huffington Post and this article in The Atlantic. Turns out diamond engagement rings are a relatively recent phenomenon. Not only that, but the phenomenon was completely fabricated by De Beers as an advertising / social engineering campaign. Add to this that fabricated diamonds are of similar quality to diamonds and it just feels like we've all been taken for a ride. A very expensive ride.
Oh, and then there's the conflicts in the Middle East. Has anyone else wondered about Armageddon or the end of the world? If not, these wars will get you thinking about it soon enough.
If too much more happens, then I shall have to stop being surprised. After all, isn't the truth stranger than fiction?
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