Last night a friend showed me the new feature of Google Maps: Street View. You can put in an address, and if the town is charted, you can see the street...as if you were standing in the middle of the street. For instance, I typed in my address and up came a photo looking directly at my house. BUT THEN I could turn the camera around 360 degrees and see my neighbors' houses and their cars. I half expected to see my dog.
This is pretty creepy, if you ask me. I can see the benefit of it, but still...It makes me feel like Big Brother is really watching, and he's driving around in a truck with a camera on the back taking panoramic pictures of where we live. Creeeeeepy....
But then I started thinking. With satellite imaging, Google Maps, and now the upcoming Street View, I realized that there are probably no more new uncharted territories to be discovered. Sorry, Columbus, we've found all the New Worlds. Sorry, Gilligan...in this day and age, you'd be found in probably a week episodes time.
This makes me sad. The sense of discovering something new, that no one has ever found, is so exciting to me. Like a secret hideout, only in the form of an island or tropical forest. But Google's got them all charted. And I can visit them without even going there, thanks to Street View.
I want to discover something new. I suppose that's why I enjoy the zoom feature on my camera. I have a photography album entitled "Finding Significance in the Insignificant". Instead of macroexploration, I can go on my own microexploration, discovering parts of flowers and insects I'd never notice. It's quite amazing when something as small as your pinkie nail suddenly has intricate details.
So, my challenge to myself: if I can't find an uncharted desert island, I guess I can start discovering the deeper levels of what has already been found.
See ya around, Gilligan.
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