Thanks to Teacher’s Lounge blog for flagging this: In response to 2007’s Edge Annual Question thrown out to some of the world’s leading thinkers, “What are you optimistic about?”, Google’s Chris Dibona shows he totally groks the ongoing democratization of access to high resolution imagery of the earth:
Widely Available, Constantly Renewing, High Resolution Images of the Earth Will End Conflict and Ecological Devastation As We Know It
I am not so much of a fool to think that war will end, no matter how much I wish that our shared future could include such a thing. Nor do I think that people will stop the careless destruction of flora and fauna for personal, corporate, national or international gain. I do believe that the advent of rapidly updating, citizenry-available high resolution imagery will remove the protection of the veil of ignorance and secrecy from the powerful and exploitative among us.