I Have a Dream

Well, actually I have a lot of dreams. There was a forgettable movie that came out in 1989 called, Dad. I say it was forgettable, because for most people it was, but part of it struck a chord with me. It was about an old man, played by Jack Lemmon, that was coming to the end of his life. Through a traumatic event, his son comes to learn that his father has spent most of his life subconsciously developing a fantasy world within his imagination. He evolved this fantasy day after day, growing an incredibly detailed alternate reality for himself to escape the harsh realities of his real life.


I really don’t have too many harsh realities in my file, but I do spend a lot of time in my own head. And I do have a tendency to develop a “thread” pretty thoroughly. My favorite is my version of the “what superpower would you like to have” question. My answer to that question is that I would like the ability to travel back in time and study with the master of any particular skill, art or science and then return to my time. So, if I’m about to get jumped by four guys that want my iPhone, I would travel back to the late 60’s and study Jeet Kune Do at the hands of Bruce Lee. After a few months or years of this, I would pop back in and take care of business, none the older for the journey. Similarly, if I get annoyed at the profusion of computer technology that is leaving me behind, I might skip to a garage in the Santa Clara Valley and insinuate myself into the process of putting together the first PC’s.

I’ve had these fantasies for a long time (well before Heroes came out), and as I said, they tend to get pretty detailed. I’ve always thought this tied into my ability to plan in the real world as well. It’s like using the power in reverse. When I plan a project or event, I imagine it in great detail. I review the environment and facilities. I see the people and how they act and interact. I envision all the little steps. I usually go through many permutations in my mind. And it’s different than just thinking about it; it’s more like simulating the event.

I listened to a Podcast recently by one of the founders of Palm and MindSpring. He researches the human brain when he’s not making millions of dollars on startup companies. As best I could understand him, he believes that the brain works by storing memories, and then making predictions based on the available data. I think if you boil it down to its simplest form, that’s what learning is. It gives you a template of past experiences to compare to current or future situations.

How does any of this relate to engineers? Well, I don’t know. But in my experience, the best engineers can visualize a problem. Sometimes their perspective is too narrow, and they only visualize the technical aspects of a situation. Maybe we all need to spend more time fantasizing, looking either backward or forward.