Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Forward with Christine DePetrillo

In my January 4th post, I wrote about being able to go backward in time and live a simpler life. This post is about the opposite situation—how much I love to dream about the future.

I’m not going to lie. I thought by the year 2014, I’d be driving a hover car on skyways. Though I absolutely love my current car, I’m pretty bummed that it doesn’t fly. I’m even more depressed that it doesn’t fold up into a briefcase that I can carry around, Jetsons-style.

And where’s my robot maid?

There are so many technological advances portrayed in science fiction shows and movies that I really hope some geeks are working on developing. Here’s my short list. We don’t have the time or the space for my long one.

1. Transporter – I’m dying to go to Hawaii in the blink of an eye one weekend. I just want to be sure they’ve got the ability to reassemble my molecules properly. I don’t want to arrive in Hawaii as a steamy, oozy pile of flesh. That’s just not going to look right in a bikini.
 
2. Light saber – I mean, imagine a guy trying to mug you in a dark alley and you whip a light saber out of your purse and cut his hands off at the wrists. Bad Ass.
 
3. Android assistants – There are so many occasions when I need an extra set of hands to get something done. It would be so wonderful to have a personal assistant that I didn’t have to give lunch breaks, provide health care or vacation time or pay. I’d make sure my android buddy was programmed to think just like me so I wouldn’t have to waste time explaining how I wanted something done. It would just know how I wanted it done. The right way.
 
4. Holodeck – What would be better than having a room in your house that you could turn into a dance club at the tap of a touchscreen? Boring Saturday night? No more! Just program the holodeck for 1980s Dance Party, and BOOM. You’ve got a holographic Cyndi Lauper ready to “just wanna have fun” with you. Tired of working out with a silly kickboxing class? Program the holodeck to insert you into a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie and virtually fight the projected image of the man himself.
 
5. Holodeck – Yeah, that’s right. I want this one so much I’m making it Number 5 too!
 
6. Instant Cerebral Downloads – Think Trinity in The Matrix when she downloads the info to fly a helicopter for Neo. (Check out the scene HERE.) I’d be downloading info on everything from how to train my dog to making the perfect apple pie to how to build a holodeck!
 
7. Time machines – See my January 4th post. It’d be nice to visit the past whenever I wanted. I’d like a Tardis model. Small on the outside, super roomy inside.
 
8. Bionic parts – Being able to upgrade when the body parts start to wear down would be awesome. If they had an extra kick to them, that’d be greatly appreciated.
 
9. Food generators – I’d love to walk up to a box in the wall of my kitchen, say, “Chicken marsala,” and get a fully prepared meal. You know, for those days when cooking dinner seems like just another chore. Yeah, so okay, for every day.
 
10. Starfleet Academy – I mean really. Why don’t we have this already? NASA’s great and all, but we need to get to the next level, people. I’d love to have this conversation with one of my former students: 
 
Me: Congrats on graduation from high school. What are your plans now?

Student: I got accepted to Starfleet Academy. I start next week.
 
Me: Excellent! Don’t let them give you a red shirt.

So, while I love the past, the future excites me too. How about you? What scientific developments do you want to see?

 
Toodles,

Chris

www.christymajor.weebly.com YA Romance  

4 comments:

Jannine Gallant said...

I'm all for #1. Transport me to Paris, Hawaii, maybe an ancient Grecian temple. Can I also transport my teenage daughters somewhere far away when they start rolling their eyes at me? Maybe you should be writing science fiction, Chris. You have some great ideas here!

Margo Hoornstra said...

An instant transport would be nice. I'm all for the food generator - does it clean up after too? Jannine's right. You should write science fiction. You have the knack.

Diane Burton said...

I'm all for #9. I hate making dinner & cleaning up. I thought for sure you wrote scifi, Chris--considering all the s/f movies refs. :)

Alicia Dean said...

This is a no brainer...I want the android assistant. As busy as I am, it would be amazing to have an assistant to do all the boring, exhausting stuff like housework and cooking so that I could focus on writing and editing and playing on the computer.

I'm not a sci-fi minded person, so I can't think of anything better than what you have on your list, so I'll just take that android assistant. Now, please...

BTW, I'm so sorry to be late to the post (I seem to say that a lot, I know, but these past few days have been insane!)