It is already established that Clark and Lovecraft feared/hated technology; probably safe to assume the two wished technology would have halted completely (sometimes I don't blame them). But if the two were alive today and encountered Google Earth, I wonder if they'd take a fancy to it. My assumption is yes. Both individuals yearned to glimpse all wonders mother earth held close, but unfortunately financial matters limited/crippled their chances. With Google Earth they could glimpse every corner of the world no matter what. I mean Lovecraft could glimpse his beloved Providence (the few sections which haven't been modernized) and Clark could glimpse places he wanted too. What are every ones thoughts?

And speaking of modernization in Providence, Lovecraft craved coffee. There is a Starbucks across the street from where his beloved home once stood. I wonder if he would turn his nose up at it or dive right in? As Frank Belknap Long said, "Lovecraft would've probably altered his views and looked upon the matter philosophically".

Lovecraft's reactions toward technology were complex. He hated the distancing from nature it tended to bring, and he hated the increasing focus on speed (he felt, rightly, I think, that a full intellectual life demands a fairly leisurely approach)... but he was quite fond of the cameras he had, enjoyed his one trip in an airplane (though he hated the idea of airplanes becoming ubiquitous because of the influences mentioned above) and thought that, as an adornment to life -- e.g., a way to get a different perspective, to enjoy seeing things from a broader view, etc. -- they were "oke"; he also enjoyed speed in cars himself (he also apparently very much enjoyed roller coasters), as E. Hoffmann Price notes. So how would he feel about Google Earth? Impossible to say for certain, but I think, with some reservations about privacy and the like, he would probably find it a fascinating thing, stimulating to the imagination.

As for the Starbucks... he not only loved coffee, but also coffee substitutes. His reservations with Starbucks would more likely to have to do with other issues, such as the corporation's responsibility toward the environment and their impact (again, his love of Nature)....

From what I know of Lovecraft, and more particularly of CAS, he/they would have eschewed Starbucks as an effete, overpriced con - and opted the much higher quality Gevalia, especially the once a year picking in Africa at 9000 feet - but in the absence of that, Clark was happy with Folgers - of the instants, we both loved Medaglia D'oro Espresso - not expensive, and really fine - And in those days, once in a while you could find Chock-full-o- nuts - haven't seen it in the market in years, but in the old days, it was a really good coffee. And Clark, like myself, always appreciated adding a little cognac to it -

You are probably right as regards the cost. My own response was to the idea of Starbucks as a coffee shop (albeit an overly ubiquitous one), and I have serious doubts Lovecraft would have stayed away for reasons other than cost, though he might well have -- in fact almost certainly would have -- disliked the corporate mentality behind the whole....

There is an element of speculation to all of this.

I could see them using Google Earth to scope out far away cities and other locations for incorporation into their tales.

Jojo Lapin X Wrote:
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> There is an element of speculation to all of this.

Agreed. What I am basing my speculation on is HPL's response to various coffee substitutes, his (more or less) indifference to the sort of things most people (including myself) object to when it comes to Starbucks -- at least when it came to actually patronizing a place -- and so on. I could well be dead wrong, but this is the impression I have gained from the various accounts of him, as well as his own statements in the various volumes of correspondence I have read over the past 35 or so years....