To add to this: the most important thing to note here, is that it is you, OftenBen, who discovers it. Let me elaborate on why that's important. Say you manage to go to Amsterdam. There's a pretty large chance you'll discover the Kalverstraat pictured above. You will definitely not be the first to discover that. Not by a long shot. But you will be the first you to discover that place. Maybe you are into European architecture, and you see those old buildings above the shops and wonder how old they are. Maybe you recognised some of those brands from ads. Maybe you know something about meteorology and want to know what kind of clouds those are. Maybe it reminds you of that time you went to Germany, or maybe it reminds you of a song. You can watch the world around you in so many different ways and most of them are really unique to you. There are so many different perspectives to have that most places you go are discovered by you - if you take the time to look closely. The devil's in the details, like ref says. Maybe that's not "real" discovery in the cartographic sense, but it definitely is a discovery to you and I think that is much more important. There is just far too much stuff we don't know or haven't bothered to think about - to say that there isn't anything left to discover is to underestimate the immensity of details our world has.
My grandfather used to tell me (When he had still had the patience and memory for meaningful discussion and debate) that a man could spend his whole life studying a square foot of dirt from the garden and die having never discovered everything about it. I understand the idea that perspective is the most important thing in regards to discovery (Personal discovery) but I find myself battling a negative emotion when I 'discover.' For example, last summer I went on a bit of a road trip with my grandfather, and there was a moment when we were deep in the woods in the Upper Peninsula, staring at a waterfall created where part of an old industrial dam had broken under the root of a tree that had grown in an old post hole. We were a few miles from the nearest road and I thought from most people. We spent maybe twenty minutes around the area, taking pictures and just watching the water when a tour group of senior citizens with a polo-clad state park guide came through, doing just as we had done, taking pictures and oohing and ahhing. I felt instantly put off of the whole experience, because I hadn't 'discovered' anything. I was just another tourist, another voyeur, in the day to day of that place. This is an extension of the feeling of my original post, and since that day I don't take quite the same pleasure in being out in the woods, around ruins, old structures as I once did, because in the back of my mind I still feel like a voyeur, like a tourist.There is just far too much stuff we don't know or haven't bothered to think about - to say that there isn't anything left to discover is to underestimate the immensity of details our world has.
That's because it's a square foot of dirt, man. Boring as hell, unless you're really into geology. There's a middle ground between looking at a square foot of dirt and at large uncharted areas. And it's where the good stuff's at. I know how you feel: it's nice to know something probably nobody knows. It's the same with music for me. I've often had music I discovered myself be used in a large ad campaign and at first I feel disappointed (it's the hipster hiding inside me), but in the end I know that way more people will then appreciate it. Maybe that's not happening with the tourists as they just go ooh and aah and snap a picture to forget. But is that really something that should make you feel worse about your experience?My grandfather used to tell me that a man could spend his whole life studying a square foot of dirt from the garden and die having never discovered everything about it.
I felt instantly put off of the whole experience, because I hadn't 'discovered' anything.