How soon is now?

It's rare that science makes me stand up and say "Holy crap." After all, Brave New World is one of my favorite books. But twice in the last few weeks I've gotten a glimpse of what's to come and I'm ready for my "Holy crap" moment.

First up is some crazy headgear. No, not the kind that straightens geeks' teeth, but the kind that lets geeks play video games. Take a gander.



This device reads your brainwaves. When you're focused and concentrated, you can make a light saber glow. In the future, you might have to be in a state of sublime concentration to sink a putt on Tiger Woods golf, for example. Freaky stuff. I just wish you didn't have to look like an idiot while doing it.

But wait there's more. I read yesterday that machines that can fabricate three-dimensional items -- cell phone batteries, or rubber duckies, say -- will soon be available for reasonable dough. The idea is that there's a printer that knows the chemical composition of what you want to make and creates it for you.

The New York Times story on the discovery jokes "It’s not quite the transporter of 'Star Trek,' but it is a step closer."

Um, no. This isn't at all like the transporter, which is like a fax machine for matter. This is much more similar to the replicator systems that starship travelers to make food and gifts. Duh.