MARIANO TOMATIS

Eve of the SciFoo14 on the plane: a good occasion to sharpen the ability of realizing the miracles in which we are immersed — too often taken for granted. Alain De Botton comments on the effect that such an experience would have had on classical painters like Nicolas Poussin:

No one thinks it remarkable that somewhere above an ocean we flew past a vast white candy-floss island which would have made a perfect seat for an angel or even God himself in a painting by Piero della Francesca. In the cabin, no one stands up to announce with requisite emphasis that, out of the window, we are flying over a cloud, a matter than would have detained Leonardo and Poussin, Claude and Constable. (1)

Nicolas Poussin, “Hercule au jardin des Hespérides” (detail).

Louis C.K.’s whipping irony is another perfect guide to the re-enchantment of the flight. During one of his routines, the American comedian mocks the ungrateful who complain of occasional inconveniences on airplane flights:

They’re like: “It was the worst day of my life. First of all we didn’t board for 20 minutes and then we get on the plane and they made us sit there on the runway for forty minutes! We had to sit there.” Oh really? What happened next? Did you fly through the air incredibly like a bird? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight, you non-contributing zero? Wow, you’re flying! It’s amazing! Everybody on every plane should just constantly be going: “Oh my God, wow!” You’re flying, you’re... you’re sitting in a chair in the sky! But it doesn’t go back a lot. And it smells really. You know, here’s the thing. People like they say there’s delays on flights, delays really New York to California in 5 hours. That used to take 30 years to do that and a bunch of you would die on the way there and have a baby! (2)

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