| Nature is wonderful, not only when pristine, but in the things it has given us for use: horses and oxen, wheat and corn, petroleum and silicon. The world is full of wonders, as when we watch live action television by satellite from the other side of the globe, or talk to friends thousands of miles away in real time on the telephone, or download an mp3 from the Internet, and play it on a virtual machine. To me, the mediation of all of this with ourselves is through the idea of civilization, the building up of knowledge and amenities, and their spread throughout the populace, that seems to be the principle temporal project of humankind....... |
