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Comment by Leszek | Hacker News Reader

It's called the "overview effect": https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect

I wonder how we could get more people to experience this effect... Something like what Stewart Brand did by pushing for and publicising the first whole earth picture (in part via the Whole Earth Catalog) but more for the internet age.

I was toying with an idea of a site called "Get Some Perspective" where you'd start off with a FPS view and as you scroll you gradually zoom out, eventually to the whole observable universe. You could send this link to people if they're being short-sighted, callous, etc and hopefully instill a bit of the Overview effect in them...

Prior art: the “Total Perspective Vortex” https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Total_Perspective_Vortex

I think you're toying with the dangerous Total Perspective Vortex [0] as described by Douglas Adams:

The Vortex is now used as a torture and (in effect) killing device on the planet Frogstar B. The prospective victim of the TPV is placed within a small chamber wherein is displayed a model of the entire universe - together with a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot bearing the legend "you are here." The sense of perspective thereby conveyed destroys the victim's mind; it was stated that the TPV is the only known means of crushing a man's soul.

[0] https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Total_Perspective_Vortex

This will crush your soul if you consider you are insignificant, but let me help.

The entire universe is ENORMOUS and we are but tiny specks. But the same God who made all of that, made us, too. And that same God knows us by name and wants to have a relationship with us.

Be God's friend.

In case you've never seen it, check out the Eames's Powers of Ten.

Charles and Ray Eames made a film in 1977 with a similar idea:

https://www.eamesoffice.com/the-work/powers-of-ten/

I can get just a tiny grasp of the power of that sight just by looking at the photos, and can't imagine what would be like experiencing it in 1st person. This brings the hope that one day when every human would be able to experience it, we'll create a utopistic Trek-ish reality in which people suddenly become less selfish and put the common good above idiocies such as nationalism or the pursuit of immense wealth at the expense of others. Hopefully one day seeing the Earth from orbit will become sort of a rite of passage for kids.

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