The intense political involvement and international implications of both mapping and global images struck me in this week's readings. John Cloud's discussion of the huge amounts of secrecy and "classified information" is intriguing, because I don't usually think of geography as particularly inflammatory or relevant to political intrigue. Yet in the Cold War, CORONA was surrounded by a "shuttered box" which indicates the guarding of complete disclosure. This points to the multi-faceted political issues that surrounded information during the Cold War, and opens up the question as to whether there is a parallel in today's world for such guarding of information. Perhaps in fifty years there will be common knowledge that is today in another shuttered-box. Issues surrounding NSA come to mind.
Denis Cosgrove's discussion of photographs of Earth from the Apollo missions likewise points to the significance that a perspective on geography can have. The Whole-Earth and One-Earth ideas that arose in part due to 22727 and Earthrise had and have a long-lasting presence. Today there are Whole-Earth enthusiasts who look at the earth as something that should be taken care of and appreciated as delicate. One-World ideas of mastering the world through economic and secular means persists today, as globalization continues as a trend.
Both articles this week point to the impact that simply images of our earth can have, especially when they are from a previously unexplored perspective. This is intriguing and suggests that the future holds perhaps even more perspectives from which to view the world and/or universe.
I thought the discussion on classified information was intriguing too. What I thought was really interesting was how involved universities were when it came to research on various secret projects. It makes you wonder how involved UC Davis was at the time. We've all heard about some things our campus worked on in the past (tomatoes, other vegetables) but we haven't heard much about our very own primate lab. Maybe that's part of today's shutter box? Maybe the research being done there will one day lead to scientific progress that will alter our life. The topic whole earth was pretty interesting too. Is it possible that the Whole Earth Festival we have on campus originated from that movement? That would be really cool if it did.
ReplyDelete