Why are we losing the wayfinding skills of our ancestors? | Aeon Essays
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Why are we losing the wayfinding skills of our ancestors? | Aeon Essays
One to One: On maps, cartography and our relationship with geographical enquiry over time stretching from ancient Babylon to GIS software. With increasingly sophisticated tools to build maps, "we have the means to comprehend the future.
"We are each at the centre of our own map... We are all innate mapmakers... maps [are the] mediators between an... See more
"We are each at the centre of our own map... We are all innate mapmakers... maps [are the] mediators between an... See more
Weidenfeld & Nicolson • You Are Here: A Brief Guide to the World
I believe we also make maps because we are desperately, primally afraid of being lost. The tighter we cling to them the more we confuse them for something real. And when we do that, they stop showing us where to go and start leading us in ever-decreasing circles. If we can hold them lightly, however, they can open our perspective and contextualise... See more
Alexander Beiner • Lost Ways of Knowing
the decentering of human life from its cosmic significance, a decline in our sense of purpose, and a sensation of having lost the soul that gave earlier human societies their adaptiveness and vitality. It seems we are left with a feeling of having lost our place in the world along with a sense of who we are and what we ought to do with ourselves.