Anyone else out there obsessed with Google Earth? People who know me will be aware that I have a habit of reading the atlas for hours on end, pouring over maps of faraway places, imagining what they are like. So you can guess how I excited I get about Google Earth. Since it came along I have visited the Antarctic, gone on a road trip across America, taken in the view from the top of Mount Everest, flown over the Sahara desert, explored the valleys of the Hindu Kush, island hopped in the Caribbean, strolled through the streets of Paris at evening, and gone on a cruise up the Yangtze River starting at Shanghai. Pictured above is an image of New York from Google Earth. Why, only last weekend I took a tour of the Alps in the morning (really quite beautiful), before flying down to Tuscany in the afternoon to have a poke around some of its stunning Renaissance towns. My adventures haven't even been confined to planet earth - I've also glided over the surface of the moon, and wandered through the galaxies using Google Sky. By zooming in on the night sky you get a sense of how big the universe is. It’s very big indeed. In fact, I've come to the conclusion that it is better to not think too much about just how big it is.
All of this raises a tricky question: is there any need to travel anywhere any more? Why bother? I think the only remaining reason to travel is the smells. And Google are doubtless working on an application that will bring us the aromas of every location on the planet - Google Scent. Once that is available, there really will be no need for me to ever leave my bedroom again, and humanity will have attained its ultimate end.
Isn't it a little bit sad that there is nothing left to imagine any more? Never again will we dream of remote, mysterious places, because all those places are right in front of our eyes anytime we want them.
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