maps etc

[gfish]

I've been thinking how it's likely that the skill of map reading will die with our generation. (Except for weirdo hobbyists, of course, like people who teach themselves celestial navigation today. [Yes, I'm included in that group.]) It follows that physical maps will eventually die out as well, which suddenly strikes me as a much odder thought. Phone books are even more obviously doomed. None of the entire combined index of our reality will be tangible. Now that I'm watching the new Survivors remake, it makes me wonder what post-apocalyptic fiction will look like in a couple of decades. Imagine being surrounded by resources but not being able to find out where they are, or how to get there. How bizarre.

Also, why didn't anyone tell me about the Survivors remake? It's already into its second season!

Also also, sorry I haven't been updating much. It's been a weird couple of weeks. I have some non-news to share which I thought I'd have the final clearance to post about some time ago. Waiting for the go ahead (which will almost certainly take the form of official word I wasn't selected) has given me a weird mental block on updating LJ. I should at least have a cool project update or two to make asap.

Comments

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Typically, when I am intruducing star charts to my students by analogy to earth maps (representing the celestial sphere on a flat map being the same issue as representing a spherical earth on a flat map) none of my students have so much as heard of a Mercator projection. Only when I have an over-40 "non-traditional" student does anyone have a clue.

I find the inability to read a map scary--a kind of perceptual blindness that I can't even imagine from the inside.