It’ll never fly, Orville

The final twenty years of my career was directly involved in disrupting large companies stuck with stale “we are too big to fail” thinking.  Running into a person near my age, as I did at lunch last week, espousing today’s version of “It’ll never fly, Orville Syndrome,” irritated me. Don’t people read history and pay attention to what is going on in the world?

While jokes and cartoons themed on how great the old days were and how stupid and absurd things are now can be funny, anyone taking this thinking seriously just doesn’t get it.  Watching Series 2 of Engineering the Future (available on Curiosity Stream) is a quick and effective way to break out of this trap.

Season 1, produced in 2020, was spectacular.  Sir Patrick Stewart narrates, the research and interviews with experts is tightly edited and spot on.  The photography, music, and pacing made it a pleasure to watch.  They made six episodes, covering Wind, Aviation, Fusion, Tidal, Maritime, and Solar.

Series 2 has just dropped and I’m again blown away by the progress that has been made. As one interviewee points out, “Give Engineers a problem, and the more difficult the challenge, the happier they are.”  Season 2 features another six spectacular episodes, including Electric Vehicles, The MetaVerse, Hyperloop, The Race to Space, Perpetual Power, and Timber Skyscraper.  They are on top of and up-to-date on all the latest technology. Actor David Oyelowo is the narrator in these episodes and does an awesome job.  I sense he is younger, which makes him more credible than Patrick Stewart, even though Stewart’s narration talent was superb in Season 1.

If you’re not already a subscriber to Curiosity Stream, I highly recommend this streaming service.  It costs only $2.99 a month and you can cancel anytime. They feature thousands of documentaries, many award-winning exclusives, and originals they developed.  For less than $20 a year, it is an extraordinary value.  You can also find full episodes on YouTube, but you’ll have to pay to watch.

Watch these and please let me know what you think.  I promise you’ll be entertained and get a contemporary view of world showcasing what is going on and what the future is likely to look like.