From “The Mapmaker”, a short story by Neil
Gaiman, contained in the collection, “Fragile things”
A news story I read recently reminded me of
a short story called “The Mapmaker” by one of my favourite authors, Neil
Gaiman.
In the short story, the Chinese emperor
turns a small island into a map of the whole of his lands. The mountains and lakes are recreated in
miniature. This satisfies the emperor
for only a year before he plans the building of a map on a much larger scale. He plans to build a map which is one
hundredth the size of his kingdom, where all the buildings and huts would be
represented in miniature. His advisor
tries to convince him that it would cost too much. Then the emperor reveals that this second map
is just a stepping stone to the map he really dreams of, which would be
accurate on a scale of one to one. Every
hut, tree and person would be represented actual size. The advisor bows low and takes his leave. And the emperor dies mysteriously in his sleep
that night.
According to the news, some cities in
Germany and Australia are experimenting with a radical change to the
design of pedestrian traffic lights.
Traffic lights have traditionally been set in a high spot on top of a
pole, so that people can see them from a distance. The new traffic lights are instead set on the
ground, at foot-level.
And what is the reason for setting the
lights on the ground? Are they for small
children, perhaps? Or for those elderly
pedestrians with bent backs, whose faces are pointed towards the ground?
No, they are for ordinary pedestrians who
are walking along whilst using their smartphones. Some local governments have decided that
since people cannot be stopped from looking at their phones and walking at the
same time, something must be done. Otherwise
they will risk casually strolling into the middle of the road to be flattened
by an oncoming truck.
What do people find so fascinating about
their phones that they cannot stop themselves from indulging in this somewhat
dangerous and rude behaviour? There are
many things they could be doing, of course.
But one of the main triggers for this behaviour is the checking of
a map. If you’re going to meet your
friend at a restaurant you have never been to before, you don’t have to
remember the directions, or look around you to find the restaurant. You just input the address and GoogleMaps or
some other site will lead you there with an on-line map.
In many city streets, GoogleMaps is now so
accurate that you can see a “street view”, or what is basically a photograph of
the street. So the scale of the map has
become one to one. The emperor would now
be able to live inside his dream one to one map-world. That is what I imagine all of these
pedestrians who are so engrossed in their smartphones must be doing. Let them dream their beautiful dreams, and
catch them with warning lights at their feet before they fall under the wheels
of a truck.
Or... like the emperor who refused to give
up his world of dreams to accept the real world around him, perhaps only an
early death will stop them from gazing down on their dream world.
I bow deeply and take my leave.
Vocabulary:
accurate – correct; containing correct
detail
to resemble – to be similar to; to look
like
a stepping stone – a stone placed in a
stream to help someone cross; an intermediate stage between two points, helping
one get to the second point
to take one’s leave – a formal phrase – to
say goodbye; to depart
radical – very different from what has gone
before
a pedestrian – someone walking
to indulge – to allow oneself to enjoy the
pleasure of
a trigger – a cause
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