(More) Reasons to be rich in the next five decades

The twentysomething bunch doesn't have a whole lot to look forward to these days. Sure, civic participation is at a very visible high, thanks to the charisma of our pop-culture presidential nominee. But the sinking economy makes it a terrible time to be freshly graduated from college with little meaningful work experience and a general lack of purpose about our existence. (As I found out firsthand today when my sole interview thus far this season was canceled due to a "change in the hiring schedule"--read: we don't have the cash this quarter to pay new employees)

Oh, the joys of the twenty-first century miasma of perpetual existential crisis. :D

If nothing else, perhaps our lifetime will be the one during which we move into the sci-fi age that nerddom has pined for.

TIME's "Best Inventions of the Year"

Among the most Asimov-esque of the contenders:

• the Tesla Roadster (the first electric sports car)
• Dubai's Dynamic Tower (the first moving skyscraper)

• bionic contacts (which projects a floating display over the wearer's vision--did someone say Terminator status?)

• the Aptera Electric Car (which looks like it'd popped out of one of Japan's Super Sentai TV shows)
• Baddest of all, the Peraves MonoTracer, which is a little Swiss ditty that essentially amounts to a motorbike with a sleek, minimalist enclosure. This is probably the only way I would ever get on any motorcycle.

It goes without saying, though, that should any of these things make it past the conceptual/model stage into actual production--which I'm guessing is going to take the better part of the decade at least--they'll be so exorbitantly expensive that only the top tier of the population holding the majority of the country's increasingly disparate income will be able to get ahold of them.

So for those of you who are still struggling with the classical dilemma of choosing between that which will bring you more income or that will fulfill your vague idea of spirit/goodness...the choice is pretty clear.