(Nothing makes you realize how rich and intricate the world is than trying to model it with a few million triangles and ending up with something that looks completely crude.)
X-Plane's digital world isn't the only way that we interact with a proxy instead of the real thing. When we drive instead of walk, eat packaged food from a supermarket, talk on the telephone instead of talk in person, our technology becomes a proxy for our relationship with our direct natural environment - the planet, plants, animals, and other human beings.
Now I'm not saying that any of these things is bad. I'm not about to become a dairy farmer, and without the internet we couldn't create X-Plane at all. But I think it's important on this day, and hopefully every day to take time for activities that put us in direct contact with the world. Consider a few questions:
- How does what I eat affect the world?
- How does my travel affect the world?
- What impact does my home have on the world?
- Am I leaving the world in better condition for the next generation or worse?
When I was in the Dolomites a few years ago with Sergio we were looking at the dolomites from his friend's balcony - mile after mile of beautiful mountains and rolling hills. I looked at him and said "God has more polygons than we do." It was a joke at the time, but I think that the act of really observing the real world and realizing that the digital reality and technology we create can be a proxy and an addition but never a replacement is critical to understanding the responsibility for stewardship we have over the planet. Are we taking good care of our most precious gift?
0 comments:
Post a Comment