[journals] A Helicopter Trip

November 2016

I’d like to one day buy a helicopter. At a young age, I fell in love with how one can see the bigger picture from the sky. Not a single flight goes by without my eyes fixed to the window, eyes straining, soaking in the contours of the land.

With my helicopter, I’d like to make a thorough examination of the electrical grid, the sewage system, the water supply system, and the great landfills of America. Less old and more on the high tech side, I’d also like to survey the telephone and Internet system, traveling to each hub and observing how these seemingly metaphysical technologies are strictly material, always coming down to electrical impulses being sent down a vast network of metal wires.

I think after this trip, infrastructure and its meaning will take on deeper colors. It really is amazing and beautiful how we have built miles of pipes and lines to effortlessly bring things to precisely where we are without any exertion, and also take away our waste to places unknown and unseen to us. This trip is about exploring the collective genius, and perhaps also the darker side of our material infrastructure. I think I will walk away with awe and more optimism.