Of All Things Visible and Invisible

Abstract

It is incredible. Out of all the epochs of human history we find ourselves alive in the era in which magic is truly manifest. This wizardry is no hocus-pocus, however, but resides in the marvelous new technologies that can make a solid object disappear from view. That such knowledge and engineering skills exist is a triumph of human ingenuity, but, for all this, we must ask of this new innovation, where will it take us? Indeed, the desire to control our visibility has deep and dark roots that stretch back to the very beginnings of human antiquity. Some reflection seems entirely appropriate, therefore.