Sunday, May 31, 2020

I really must live under a rock

Philosopher Immanuel Kant was famous for walking the exact same daily route in Königsberg every day. Locals joked that they could set their watches by him when he passed by their windows. He was a man locked into a nearly monastic routine, and while that routine may have provided him with some depth of experience (the path you walk daily is never quite the same from day to day—I know this as an inveterate walker), it also kept him from experiencing many other things that were right there under his nose. For all intents and purposes, Kant may as well have been living under a rock.

The ghost of Kant haunted me when I saw the following video, which is about a magnificent 3D image of crashing waves—an image that had been put in place specifically as a way to help passersby find a bit of peace in their currently stressful, pandemic-tinged lives. As a work of art, it's utterly gorgeous, and a magnificent demonstration of what computers in the service of artistic minds can do. What struck me, though, is that, according to the news report below, the video is practically up the street from where I live, and I somehow never got word of it. If the display is functioning at night, and if it doesn't get switched out in the next few days, I might go walk up the street to see it sometime this coming week.


The thumbnail is a bit misleading: there's almost nothing in the news report about VR laser tag or paintgun wars except for a brief, half-second flash of the scene shown in the thumbnail. The "Wave" display is right next to the COEX center and the World Trade Tower, so it really is just a matter of walking up the street maybe thirty minutes from where I live.



2 comments:

Charles said...

I actually saw this last Wednesday, as I was walking to the KLTI for a class that afternoon. I tried not to stop and stare at it as I walked by, but I kept looking at it. It might look cool in the video, but seeing it in person is something else--you know it's just a digital effect, but it looks so real. They did a really good job with it. If you fancy a walk, you should go check it out.

Kevin Kim said...

I might just saunter out there tonight. Thanks.