👀 I spy with my little eye
#451 | When humans become satellites
As I write this, I’m on a train somewhere between Arsikere and Shivamogga. I am passing hills, coconut trees, and dried out husks of streams (which I can imagine must be magnificent at their peak). This is much more green than I’m used to seeing. And despite being strictly about the urban life, I can see the benefits of spending quiet moments among things that are slow but solid.
A boy is leaning against a coconut tree with a few goats. I wonder what his story is. If he’s bored, at peace, or ambivalent.
And though this monologue may lead you to believe that today’s thing is related to a treatise on the beauty of all things green, allow me to disabuse you of this notion.
I’m here to point you to another fascinating bit of nature – human beings. Specifically, this one guy on Instagram who has made geolocation into an art and a science and an unholy mix of the two.
That boy with the goats? He could find out the GPS coordinates with just a snapshot of a photo I took. Using the type of trees, species of goat, and god knows what else to extrapolate data. Fellow JOTter, Divya, has previously written about GeoGuessr which has invoked similar feels.
It's kind of brilliant and scary at the same time. It’s also a tidy reminder that while we’re reliant on supercomputers and smartphones, it was humans who put all that together in the place. And anything tech can do – humans did it first.
Just One Thing is the perfect source of all things human ingenue – share it with someone and give them a reminder today?