The Illusion of Depth

(not a real calendar) Well.... so much for 2025. If you're anything like me, you still find it a little jarring to be actually living through years with implausible, futuristic names like "2025" or "2026". It wasn't that long ago that we associated such numbers with pulp science fiction stories about the conquest of Mars, or apocalyptic interplanetary wars. 2026 is supposed to be a far-off destination in speculative stories about time travel, not the "use-by" date on the carton of milk you bought this morning. When did that happen? So yes; 2026 is come. Unfortunately, the reality of this "World of Tomorrow" we find ourselves living through has probably not quite lived up to the grand predictions of yesteryear; especially if you were hoping for flying cars or personal jet packs or world peace. It's certainly true that rather too many unglamourous and archaic relics of Humanity's past are persisting in our everyday lives (the intern...

Gather around, everyone, and make yourselves comfortable. I'm going to tell you a little story. There once was a guy; oh, let's call him "Pygmalion".  He was unhappy with all the women of his community, and refused to have anything to do with them (I'm sure they had their own opinions about him , but whatever they said amongst themselves has not been recorded by posterity) so he decided to take matters into his own hands. To be precise, he took matter into his own hands, and sculpted himself a woman of his very own.  His creation was absolutely everything he wanted in a woman... and nothing he didn't want. She was the perfect companion, the perfect sexual partner; the perfect wife.  But that of course is just the beginning of the story. Because now Pygmalion didn't just have a wife; he had a business model . If he could manufacture a perfect partner for himself, why couldn't he do the same thing for everyone else? So, Pygmalion opened up a little shop,...