Aerial Vehicles
There is a mad dash to create new vehicles that can take humans in the air. There are hover boards, jet packs, flying cars, drones that can carry people, and just about anything you can imagine. What an exciting time to be alive. Tinkers, inventors, and entrepreneurs are working hard to get us in the air everyday here are some of the most inventive and even feasible ideas:
Probably not going to be hitting the car dealerships anytime soon, but still a very cool idea.
http://www.popsci.com/california-engineer-is-building-gyrocopter-inspired-flying-car
This is my favorite idea, a real hoverboard, Green Goblin style. If they can ever make this safe enough to fly over land and increase the range and flight time people will be fighting over these.
http://www.gizmag.com/franky-zapata-flyboard-air-video/42734/
Like a delivery drone except it delivers you. I love the idea and this one is going to be going commercial faster than most others.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/01/06/184 -delivery-drone-for-people/
Jetpacks are cool. And this one is closer to mass production than just about any others.
http://www.gizmag.com/jetpack-aviation-new-york-flight/40286/
This DIY project looks freaky and I doubt too many people want that many blades next to their head, but have to love the flying spirit.
Science
Molten Salt Reactor
Nuclear Salts have been getting a lot of buzz around the scientific community. They have the potential to reduce the start-up cost of nuclear reactors, increase their efficiency, rely on non-weaponizable forms of fuel (Thorium vs. Uranium), and be generally safer. Once an American brainchild, now China has taken the reigns with ambitious goals to bring these new types of reactors online. The world is really serious about reducing greenhouse gases and carbon emissions and it is exciting China is investing so much money into nuclear salts.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602051/fail-safe-nuclear-power/
Obama’s Technology Doctrine
Obama and his administration have pushed science and technology as the foundation in which American society needs to rely on to remain the best. As a technocrat he has encouraged innovation and admired STEM entrepreneurs and workers. In an excellent interview Obama details his own legacy and how he wants us to move forward.
http://www.popsci.com/features/interview-with-president-barack-obama/
Summer TV
Mr. Robot
I watch this show because it is based on an interesting hypothetical of the society we live in. An extremely talented but traumatized even tortured hacker acts as the protagonist. He encounters types of people from all walks of life corporate officers, white collar workers, drug dealers, drug users, and sadists. As he battles with his own internal struggle we get to see his interactions as other people battle with theirs problems. However, the show emphasizes that people’s problems and their strange tendencies are a reaction to the world they live in. Their lives are being influenced by “evil” businessmen who control their lives through credit and debt. The protagonist finds a group of people, hackers, who seek to release the populous from this control in a cyber revolution that will erase the debt and credit systems we live in today which would hopefully lead people to live fuller freer lives.
All this might sound dystopian or even remarkably like fight club, and in a sense it is. However, what makes this show special is that although their characters have exaggerated depravity or nihilism views or are overly empty inside, the hacking is very real, the business structures and business goals are very real, the struggle most of the characters have with debt is very real, and the hacker collective’s power to significantly affect us either for benevolent and detriment reasons is very real. The cinematography, the music score, and the actors themselves bring a dramatized view of our very real world and play the what-if game and it brings to light some of the very real problems we deal with in the world.
The Night Of
Despite the hiccup of last year’s season 2 of True Detective, HBO brings incredible summer series or mini-series that push genre series to their limits. This year the Night Of explores the criminal justice system and frames it around a murder mystery and cop procedural. Furthermore, it also capitalizes on anti-Muslim hysteria, explores the depravity of prison, the emptiness of people’s lives, the problems associated with living in the bottom ring of the socioeconomic ladder, and much more. The dark and brooding long takes add drama and tension to the show. It is a remarkable work just off cinematography alone and its story brings to light how our current criminal justice system is inefficient at everything except dehumanizing the innocent. Excellent television’s remarkable run continues.
Tyrant
This season of Tyrant continues its mirroring of Syria. Insurgent terrorist attempt to take over a country and install Islamic rule to the land; however, the show has an American twist. An American educated member of the local royalty attempts to install a democracy in a chaotic and very tribal land. Rebellion, dictators, terrorist, human rights violations, mental illness, and depravity are all present as a man seeks to force the country to modernize and progress through sheer will. It’s a remarkable attempt to translate the problems and struggles of the Middle East to American viewers although it does fall into a few standard American clichés. It has the feel of a show made for today’s times (ISIS) and a little too late (where was this show during the height of the Iraq War), but is very good nonetheless.
