Assignment 3 - Chap. "Sounds" - Can you imagine ways in which our technologically affected lives can be wedded with a sensual acuity for nature?

         Sometimes, on Sundays, I heard the bells, the Lincoln, Acton, Bedford, or Concord bell, […], a  

         faint, sweet, and, as it were, natural melody, worth importing into the wilderness. […] It is not 

         merely a repetition of what was worth repeating in the bell, but partly the voice of the wood 

         […] 

        (Thoreau 80)

        As this quote shows, Thoreau combines the nativeness of the forest with the sound generated by man-made bells. He even goes further that this, and says, that this artificial sound echoes the wilderness and becomes part of the forest. In my experience, junctions between nature and technology can be found nowadays more often that ever.

      Take photography for instance, the process of going out, and into nature, with the intended purpose to find something worth photographing and then consequently taking a picture for preservation of this moment and the beauty of, lets just say, a deer on a clearance for example. It is not intended to change nature in any way, but with the help of technology, a brief second can be preserved and recalled to one's mind. In a way, the soul, or spirit, of the moment, which of course has long gone, returns to mind—and so do all the feelings of the moment the picture was taken, maybe exhaustion felt after a long walk, the fresh air, and the sounds of the forest.

      While outdoor photography is only one example, many other modern hobbies rely on technological advances to the actually happening outdoors. Geocaching would also be a great example, relying on GPS as navigation technique for finding a pretty much senseless box, containing small items of little to non value. Wandering about outdoors with the purpose to find one of these containers, or ''caches'', has little to do with the GPS technology used. Instead a modern need of experiencing nature is satisfied through giving outdoor activities sense again, as many of us would not really need to leave the house and spend time in a forest or on a field for any other purpose than enjoyment. In a way, technology therefore helps to connect and experience nature again.

E.J.

Works Cited:

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. New York: Cosimo Classics, 2009. Print.