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=== Concept: Maps transform the world ===

==== Maps transfer knowledge from one to another ====

(Maps began as communication between individuals: "Over the hill, through the pine trees, cross the stream by the big rock then go to the base of the nearby tree...")

==== Maps let us compare and expand knowledge across time ====

(explorers venture out to discover the world and bring back maps of their route. Those maps are copied and taken on new journeys, each adventure expanding or refining the collective project of knowing and navigating the world.)

==== Maps allow us to see the whole ====

(Though first recognized through study of the night sky, at some point the idea spread that all the far lands of the world connected in a great loop. Maps make this real. You can hold the globe and identify all its parts. This was a radical shift in perception for human kind. The flat map with fuzzy unknown around the perimeter become a globe. Known.

The project of map making entered a new phase. No longer expanding in size but filling in layer upon layer of useful information.)

==== Maps unify layers of intersecting knowledge ====

(The atlas was born. And Google Earth and Maps. Earth sciences, industrial planners, bureaucrats, everyone with information to share mapped their data onto the surface of the globe. New functions became possible. We can zoom in and out from a view of the milky way to the furniture you keep in your backyard. In place of landmarks we have coordinate systems that allows us to coordinate on a global scale, build navigation systems that automatically plan your journey on, foot, road, boat and air. In a sense the world is unknowable and ever changing. In other ways we can see it completely and these ways are functionally very empowering for us.

Next: How do we take the transformative power of maps and utilize it to advance human culture? )