Six Pictures and Every Given Point in Space and Time

I was in NYC for three days, working with a collaborator on some cool science (more on that in the future), and giving a brief lunch talk to the scientists at Columbia University. It was on the last day, as I waited for the subway to take me from Morningside, where the university is, to Penn Station, where my train would depart in an hour, that I realized I hadn’t taken a single picture. So I captured six:

I’m finding less and less desire to photograph, not for lack of inspiration, but due to some evolving state of my personal being. If that makes any sense. A new form of withdrawing from the ubiquity, not quite Luddism, not quite recluse, but something in between.

I’ve been rethinking my personal electronic devices. Most importantly, those devices that put in the palm of my hand the ability to see all of the world at any instant. It recalls Jorge Luis Borges’ The Aleph, which is an object that does this very feat and its owner regards the Aleph with a precious obsession. The aleph realized en masse is a harrowing thought, yet it has quietly, and quickly, lulled the entire world into a personal form of full disclosure. I’m not sure how I want to proceed in such a world.

NYC Singularity

New York, NY — Traveling by train to NYC from Western NY has all the trappings of Zeno’s Paradox and/or a singularity. The closer we get to the city, the more stops we make, the more people we collect, the more chopped up increments–increments measured by hyphenated townships–for my train to slowly parse. The final part of the trip drags in a painful series of stop/starts. It seems like we’ll never get there. I watch for turtles passing me by.

It must be the city’s gravity. Indeed, traveling to NYC always feels like a descent, but into what? I can never describe it. A well of potential and I can’t help but feel that it is running dry.