Flight is freedom. The power to  51  into the air and reach a destination unshackles us from gravity, distance, topography, and time. It is humanity's greatest victory against the  52  of being human.

It can also, at its fringe at least, seem a bit fantastical. For example, I recently shook hands with Bertrand Piccard, adventurer and pilot of the Solar Impulse, just before he  53  from California on the first cross-country flight of a sun-powered plane. I pointed out that the craft seemed a bit rickety. In order to make it on today's  54  batteries, it needs to be unbelievably light. Piccard smiled brilliantly. "When the Wright Brothers went up, no one  55  a plane carrying 300 people," he said. He's right. Dreaming far beyond today's limitations made flight possible.

That was the  56  with which we undertook our survey of the Future of Flight. We want to provide a showcase for all that could be when you strip limitations away.  57 , it was with this same spirit that we undertook an experiment.

As Hollywood's summer flood of rockets and phasers began, we asked sci-fi writers and artists (people whose award-winning  58  will undoubtedly be optioned soon, at which point they'll stop emailing us back) to take on a few big topics: Cities. Work. Space Travel. The self. Modem life looks a lot like the  59  of the past century. Why not ask today's best sci-fi minds what they dream about? I have a conversation with Mr. Night Shyamalan, who  60  our planet as it might look 1 000 years from now in his first space opera, After Earth. We read Dan Engber and Erik Sofge, who dissect the jetpacks and robot interfaces of summer blockbusters. We believe that based on today's dreams, tomorrow may be forecast.