The Committee to Nuke Elysium

Once upon a time, orators declared that air travel would bring people together, erasing borders and prejudices to inaugurate a new era of universal amity and understanding; I reflected on this as my fellow passengers fussed with their cell phones, fastidiously avoiding eye contact with each other. Futurists had raved that the speed and brilliance of flight would inspire transcendent bliss; waiting on the runway, where the Wright brothers’ hearts had pounded, my fellow passengers would flip idly through catalogs and pull down the shades to block out the sun. The challenge of flight had commanded the passions of the boldest and bravest of my ancestors; when our plane took off, after ignoring the droning safety presentation, their heirs would peer briefly out tiny double-plated windows at the carved-up landscape before settling back to watch—a movie! Ten thousand generations had dreamed of flying, and we needed movies to numb our boredom in the air!