The elevator, underrated and overlooked, is to the city what paper is to reading and gunpowder is to war. Without the elevator, there would be no verticality, no density, and, without these, none of the urban advantages of energy efficiency, economic productivity, and cultural ferment. The population of the earth would ooze out over its surface, like an oil slick, and we would spend even more time stuck in traffic or on trains, traversing a vast carapace of concrete.
This is one of those articles that you look at and think, "No way I have time to read this," and then you start it, and then an hour of your life is gone forever. Don't say I didn't warn you.
4 comments:
I demand my hour back.
Something tells me that Nick Paumgarten's life did not turn out like he wanted.
I wasn't going to read it, and then I read the comments... and read the article.
I agree David... Nick Paumgarten's life probably has taken a turn for the worse when he started writing about elavators :-)
It's the old start-your-story-with-someone-stuck-in-an-elevator-and-then-anyone-with-any-human-compassion-will-be-obliged-to-read-to-the-end trick. What can I say? It works.
Post a Comment