May you live in interesting times...

[GoldenRivet]

That thread title, I was once told, is an ancient Chinese curse.

for, i suppose, if you lived in uninteresting times... life would be filled with the simplest of pleasures and a most uninteresting and unchallenged lifestyle. But, if you live in interesting times... life is filled with complexity.

I must say, we live in the most interesting of times.

What got me thinking of this?

Google Earth. ( which of course spawned other thought tangents)

Now this is purely opinion, but i think that Google Earth is the single most important and significant known mapping tool in the entire history of mankind.

The sheer thought of the monumental undertaking of photographing every square inch of the surface of the earth in high resolution satellite imagery, AND photographing every bit of virtually every interstate, highway, road, and street in several nations is mind blowing.

perhaps I'm being amused or amazed by something that is in every day use now... but as recently as 15 years ago this would have been an impossible pipe dream!

Not even considering the monetary expense of such an ordeal... I mean the logistics alone are staggering i would think.

To think... what would the earliest cartographers in history have said about such a marvel?

to think... google earth would be impossible - even with all the money and effort in the world, without the common map maker's contributions made some 400+ years ago.

Just think of all the things we use every day that really do make our daily living so simple.

The human story never fails to amaze me.

Me too.
Modern technology is truely mind boggling.

[UnderseaLcpl]

I would say that the most important mapping tool in the history of mankind is the satellite, but I understand what you mean.

"May you live in interesting times" was indeed a Chinese curse, but the fact of the matter is that on a global scale it is far better to live in interesting times than in uninteresting ones, imo.

Interesting times are times of social dynamism and progress, uninteresting times are when we revert back to the same boring structure we've been using for most of the past 7,000 years; where peasants toil endlessly for the benefit of the elite and innovation is rare.

For want of interesting times, China languished in isolation and dynasty for thousands of years, and was ultimately subjugated; first by the Europeans, and then by the Nationalists, and then by the Communists, and finally by the West again.

Take a lesson from Carrol's Red Queen; you have to run to stay in the same place. This is a lesson that nation after nation and empire after empire has failed to learn. Only free minds and free markets allow us to run. Trying to rest on our laurels and set in stone the order of things will only ever bring about our downfall.

May we live in interesting times.

[frau kaleun]

what would the earliest cartographers in history have said about such a marvel?

I'm guessing something along the lines of: "What foul devilry is this? Witchcraft! Burn the witches, BURN THEM!!!!"

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

I'm guessing something along the lines of: "What foul devilry is this? Witchcraft! Burn the witches, BURN THEM!!!!"

Yup most likely, not so much that they believed in witchcraft rather you represent a threat to their beliefs and livelyhood.

Kind of like Sharia law doesent let women learn how to read.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Kind of like Sharia law doesent let women learn how to read.

[Sailor Steve]

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Perfect !

[Camaero]

Let's travel through time and show people who are living in the distant past Avatar 3D!