The age of Hyper-Reality & do dolphins really have bad breath?

Had a sudden scary moment the other day. I suddenly thought, man we really are hurtling into the future. Can't recall exactly why that thought came about, but maybe it was due to a discussion I was having about the negatives of civilisation or more accurately, modern society. An age of mistrust. The death of common courtesy, where nobody queues for the bus anymore. You need martial arts skills or be a rugby player to get on one these days. This is the lighter side (if you can call it that) of things. We've also had more young deaths from street shootings recently. This all must have led me to think, if we are racing into an age where families eat separately, increased disconnection between people, then maybe this really is the future, and unfortunately, we've finally arrived. Not quite a Gattica-esque reality, but not far from it.

It seems that author of the phrase 'Hyper-Reality', Jean Baudrillards death was quite timely. Maybe Jean was right about the impact of new media and postmodern consumerism was having on our societies, that he felt it was time to check out. I think he was onto something. And for the paranoid among us, Adam Curtis serves up another one of his well constructed pieces on the notion of a more narrow freedom today. BBC2 - Sun, 11 Mar, 9pm.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2028464,00.html

On a totally separate note. My mate Dave recently came back from his first visit to Cuba. He really enjoyed it, but said that swimming with dolphins isn't all that. For one their breaths stink of fish. I was surprised, I thought they would smell of candy floss or honey and almonds. Oh well.

Well at least the abused ship workers off the Falklands, were in no position to complain. Many eye-witness reports claimed that after jumping ship to flee their task-masters, many men were saved by local dolphins. Validation of an old myth? Or do those dolphins know something we don't? Is it real? Did it really happen? Was it a Baudrillard simulation? In any case, it seems these dolphins haven't forgotten their common courtesies or their sense of humanity. Maybe we could learn something from our distant cousins. ;)