Alli (neugotik) wrote,
Alli
neugotik

sometimes the u.s.a. seems so unreal. especially the cities.

we live in a kinda surreal world - I can get in a car, and seconds later be driving 55 miles per hour on an almost perfectly paved and kept up long expanse of road(s) - to giant buildings made of metal and glass, that people are paid to wash the outside of - even 30 or more stories up in the air -- I can walk a block and buy nearly any fruit or vegetable or meat I can think of - all pre-prepared or at least sorted, by type and where it is from (all over the world) and price... I can buy premade foods that are frozen, fridgerated, boxed or freeze-dried.. I can buy boxes of something I have nevermade, follow directions printed on the side and with a few added ingredients cook something I've never known about before. I can turn a knob in my car, and get 10 different kinds of music and 3 or 4 talking shows, while I drive on these amazingly well kept-up streets - and many other people all around me all can do this too - we have digital devices like phones that let us call each other from nearly anywhere, and we can return to our homes; with a flick of a button make it hot or cold in the rooms - piped water, hot or cold, and access to films, movies, via tv dvds or internet - I can enter a virtual world and type and potentially others can read it just seconds later - I can be in a chat or IM and instantly have conversations, with out any voice needed. I can go to a library and "borrow" books magazines, etc and it's all coordinated for me and others to do so. Our dirt areas are covered in this grass/lush & green and self-propegating it spreads without much care - no artificial watering needed, if it dies from lack of, it comes back later:like a tough moss. It can be walked on, trod on, even pulledup & moved, and when put back down it grows again, but it's not terribly invasive - it keeps the dirt down and our oxygen up, and it makes for bright color along otherwise long expanses of cement roads and bridges and buildings.

we've crafted this world of coordinated "expectations" everyone doing their little parts & expecting in return the ability to reach out & use any part of the system (given a cost or price usually, but not always) - the system is driven by expectations of return and investment - we all benefit and we all rely on this coherent network of product, production, maintenance and delivery, access is a given, quality is not - but it's built in, so it's predictable.

it's rather amazing to me, the whole thing.
Tags: ideas, sociology
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