Always read the book first. You get more of the story, more detail and get to create your own images in your head. Then you can compare this with the film version and note the differences. It rarely works the other way round. Once you have seen an actor playing a role it is hard to get that out of your head when you are reading the book.

>made our reality as good as any virtual reality could be?

The goal of utopian philosophers since the beginning of time.

Fine, it would actually be possible if you didn't have to then populate it with real humans who will destroy it in minutes.

Sadly, before you can have a perfect reality, you have to have perfect humans. And, after watching todays news, it seems there aren't many around..

I'm not a zoologist so cannot give an expert opinion but I have heard that since flying in formation means that each bird is following in the wake of the bird in front of them they may also make adjustments to get the best aerodynamic advantage.

With big birds (e.g geese) this will mean they tend to keep on the same plane as the wings of the other bird thus resulting in a flat 2D formation.

With small birds (e.g. swifts) the nature of the aerodynamics mean that this is not necessary and so they will follow another bird at any angle within the 360 x 360 hemisphere in front of them. This would result in the more three dimensional formations you see with swifts.

It is a phenomenon known as "emergence"

It may seem, when you are looking at a flock of birds, that there is some kind of design at work. How does each bird know here to be, how do they keep this v shape? It is particularly mystifying when you see swifts flying in the complex formations they do.

In fact, it is much simpler than that. Each bird is obeying a very simple set of rules:

1. if you cant see another bird then you're the boss. Just fly where you need to go.
2. if you can see another bird keep it constantly at a constant angle and distance to yourself

It sounds simple but if each bird follows those rules then the result is a remarkably organised looking formation. I know this because I have been involved in simulating bird flight for various games and simulations. All it needs is those two rules and you end up with something that looks complex and natural.

I don't buy CDs because I want the physical object but sometimes the CD is quite a bit cheaper than the equivalent download. In this case, I buy the CD, rip it, stick it in the attic and forget about it.