Re: Clark and Lovecraft versus Google Earth
Posted by:
jdworth (IP Logged)
Date: 21 July, 2013 10:29AM
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)....