Zen airlines

I don’t enjoy traveling by air. Who really does these days? Today yet another friend related to me a nightmare story about being stuck in one of these cramped tin cans for hours on end at 30,000 feet.

Which got me thinking… Suppose you could simply go into a dreamless sleep, through some completely safe method, perhaps a form of general anesthesia, and wake up at your destination? It would be a kind of zen travel, a cross-over from being to not-being and back again.

Imagine the following scenario: You walk into a pleasant office in New York, take a pill and promptly fall asleep. Then perhaps some deeper anesthetic is administered, which may contain a mild memory suppressant.

The next thing you know, you are sitting in another office in Tokyo, feeling relaxed and refreshed and ready for your business meeting or pleasant day of museum hopping.

Although, in reality, your journey half way around the world took an entire day, to you it was but the passing of a moment.

Would this be a good thing?

6 thoughts on “Zen airlines”

  1. Imagine how much better boring assembly line jobs would be if you could suppress the formation of memories during the workday and just come home being maybe a bit physically tired but without the mental exhaustion of a day at work.

  2. Why stop there? Why not just implant different memories, so you think that you actually have an exciting and rewarding job?

    Say, wait a minute. How do we know this isn’t already happening…

  3. I recall an airline (trying to justify their higher prices) had the motto “You can fly, or be shipped.”

    See also: Frank ‘n Dave’s crewmates in “2001”.

  4. Yes, good point. To say nothing of the crews of the USCSS Nostromo and the SS Botany Bay.

  5. Great reference! I wonder how many other serious ideas are buried in Luc Besson’s film, hidden behind a veneer of absurdity and outrĂ© fashion.

    By the way, I would never load up my own self-driving car. That what bots are for. đŸ™‚

  6. I remember a conference where I ended up sitting in a dinner table together with the neuroscientists, biologists, etc. Their topic of conversation was the best sleeping aid/drug for long flights. Some were strongly advocating for Ambien, others for Klonopin, and others for Xanax. What impressed me most was the fact that all of these are prescription drugs and heavily regulated; yet, during the dinner it felt that they were talking about M&Ms…

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