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By Islomaniac | July 22, 2007
The world is changing at a remarkable pace, and the ways in which we define the world are also changing. Islands, one of our most beautiful and treasured resources are not exempt from these changes. The way in which an island is defined is being re-shaped and I believe that the private island of the 21st century will look very different than it does today. In fact the changes have already begun. Click below to read more.
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For most of human history an island has been a landmass surrounded by a body of water. An acceptable, if not over simplistic definition. Recently things have begun to change. Today, private islands have become such a hot commodity that they are manufacturing them at a feverish pace to meet the demand. Sure artificial islands have been around for centuries, modern day Mexico City is built on one. However, these islands are different. They are almost reminiscent of the vast tracks of identical suburban housing surrounding cities. I guess the question I find myself asking is, do these manufactured islands have a soul?
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Manufacturing isn’t the only way our understanding of islands is being reshaped in the 21st century. Technology has also altered our conceptualization of what it means to live on a private island. When I was a child visiting my grandfather on his island we would have never imagined that it was possible to be watched and monitored by a system of orbiting satellites. Of course today things are very different, Google Earth has brought the whole world into focus (well most of the time). In any case, can you still call a private island private if at any moment someone could be watching you live via satellite?
Another way technology is shaping the conceptualization of an island in the 21st century is through the internet. This brilliant piece of technology has allowed an individual to buy, sell or rent a private island from the comfort of their home. The internet has also reshaped how we conceptualize what it means to be on a private island. Programs like Second Life actually sell virtual private islands. People in the island world have been slow to pick up on the implications and significance of the selling a virtual private island. It’s not so much the fact that they are selling virtual islands, it’s the fact that they are being sold that indicates how humanity is not only reshaping reality, but what it means to own and live on a private island.
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The gravest threat to the island of the 21st century does not come from the internet or from the construction of ready made islands; rather it comes from the very sea that they rest upon. As sea levels rise, and they are rising, we are and will continue to lose many of our islands. Whether or not this is a result of human activities is not the point, the point is that by the end of this century countless islands will have disappeared beneath the very waters from which they first emerged.
So what does this all mean? To be honest I’m not sure. Perhaps I am out of touch with reality, a fossil from another time. What I do know is that there will come a time when there will be more “private islands” than private islands.
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Topics: Man made islands, Environmental, Miscellaneous |
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July 22nd, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Very touching! I have spent time on an island with my family a few summers ago. It truly was a spiritual experience. Islands do have souls, or at the very least islands bring out the soul in people.