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> A gondola ride to the bottom of the Grand Canyon would be like a gondola ride to the top of Everest. Yeah! Oh wait, you mean bad. Counterpoint: I once rode
by raldi 12y ago
> A gondola ride to the bottom of the Grand Canyon would be like a gondola ride to the top of Everest.
Yeah! Oh wait, you mean bad.
Counterpoint: I once rode a sled down a shiny metal track to get down from the Great Wall of China, instead of walking back down the equivalent of 20 flights of steps. It was great!
http://kiplingandclark.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/mutianyu_toboggan_flickr_ianz.jpg http://kiplingandclark.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/mutian...
If they'd also had a gondola to ride up in, I would've been able to spend that much more time and energy exploring the top. And imagine the impact it would have on the less able-bodied.
- pmjordan 12y agoYes, the Great wall of China, that strange natural phenomenon, formed by tectonic forces over millions of years.
- raldi 12y agoWhy is that relevant? Would the Grand Canyon be less grand if it was only a couple millennia old?
- saganus 12y agoI think he means the fact that the GW is man-made instead of a natural phenomenon.
- raldi 12y agoOkay, and how is that significant?
- corin_ 12y agoIn a conversation about whether or not to add man-made touches to natural beauty... you didn't mention modifying natural beauty, but an already man-made thing.
- sneak 12y agoThe works of men, and men themselves, are part of nature. It is nothing short of hubris to believe otherwise. We, like all apex predators before us, will soon become extinct from this planet leaving only fossils in our wake. Nature encapsulates us - not the other way around.
- corin_ 12y agoSorry but that's ridiculous. Yes, on a philosophical level you can say that, but the word "nature" is defined as excluding anything human-related. > "The phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations" - OED Otherwise there would be no point having that word as it would by synonymous with "everything".
- sliverstorm 12y agoThe works of men, however, didn't take 17 million years to develop.
- snowwrestler 12y agoThere is a qualitative difference between a natural experience and a man-made experience. It's not about the age, although natural landscapes are obviously old. It's about experiencing the forces that shaped the landscape, in their original form. Natural landscapes are valuable because they don't care about people; they make people small again. You can't adapt that to human convenience, and protect it, at the same time.
- WillNotDownvote 12y ago"Would the Grand Canyon be less grand if it was only a couple millennia old?" Yes.