I think you're right @joanstewart, the first animal in space was a dog, not a cat — USSR, as I recall. Laika, I think — I vaguely remember having an old Russian stamp with the space dog. I guess the Space Cat was just my own poetic license!

I feel somewhat divided about the whole "Old World Craftsmanship" vs. new technologies... I think mostly because so many of these new technologies address precisely what I was pondering here... replacing the "real" experience (and "things") with virtual ones. Are we moving towards that "Matrix" experience of being nothing but meatbags in pods, experiencing all of existence only inside ourselves... or are we already there, and trying to wake up to the fact that there are more layers to the onion than just the one we are currently occupying?