12.11.09

What is Ottawa's field of vision?

I love this presentation by Philippe Starck, world renowned designer, during a TED presentation on design. When he talks about "duty of vision" and how our field of vision affects our own evolution I can't help but think about recurring issues in Ottawa where there seems to be a misdirected vision or perhaps a lack thereof in the city (e.g. Lansdowne, Sparks Street, Laurentian High School, etc.) Here's the thing:

- Looking straight down, you have barely any chance of survival
- Looking angled down, you can survive but in a selfish way
- Looking ahead, you begin to live in society
- Looking angled up, you become more important to civilization
- Looking straight up or back, you're trapped


Like Starck said, if you follow the history of our evolution, in four billion years we went from a "stupid bacteria" to a "super-monkey" and we still have another four billion years to go. "The bacteria had no idea of what we are today and today we have no idea of what we shall be in four billion years."

The problem is "every generation thinks we are the final one". But we're not. We're only half way through and there so much potential to do a lot more, to do better and that means change. Going against change, is like going against our own evolution. I'm not saying that we should completely forget about the past, but it shouldn't stand in the way of the future. I think this is a problem in many cities including Ottawa where often when change is proposed many oppose.


What do you think?



4 comments:

  1. Each paragraph is interesting, but incoherent when strung together. First the angle you hold your head at, then a weak transition to the evolution of bacteria to humans and beyond, and then most blathering of all you go to local politics.

    Hey, here's a thought. Look at what remains constant troughought evoulution across all species. You'll find that all lifeforms are more alike than different. Perhaps some inertial resistence to change from a few is beneficial in keeping us from diverging too much from our commonality with all life. Wait! Now I'm blathering like you.

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  2. Oh uh, this blog post is bringing out the internet literary critics. See what happens when you mention Landsdowne Park!, For my anon friend above, here's some pro tips for your next internet temper tantrum: insults don't make you sound witty, don't hide behind anon tags and spell check is your friend. Incorporating these helpful tips will greatly improve the quality of your posts.

    Anyways I think it was a good blog post MOOT and certainly food for thought. Always good to try to do better in Ottawa.

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  3. There are some people in this city that have vision. Good examples are right here in your blog. Too bad our city council isn't blessed with any visionaries. With visionary leadership maybe our citizenry would be more accepting of new ideas instead of same old same old. There was a modern house for sale at the corner of Walkley and MacArthur. Someone bought it and has proceeded to stick on terra cotta and Spanish styled ornaments. The crime of it! It is now so fugly it hurts. Talk about looking backwards.

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  4. What a bunch of nonsense! You design things that are completely necessary for modern human life, like toothbrushes and toilet brushes. You use your contacts to get them made. Why exactly this makes you qualified to talk about evolution and monkeys or whatever he's talking about is beyond me.

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