[ArneFufkin]

Mapping is just a manifestation of our survival mandate. We need to have situational awareness. Where are we, what are our resources, where our are potential threats, what can we defend against encroachment from foreign elements.

Every noise emitted by every creature on Earth is a mapping effort. Here I am. Where are you? Friend or Foe? Smoker or non smoker? Heaven's Gate Nikeacide or Jimmy J's Kool-Aid Jungle Love? Male, female or British journalist?

Any adult native-born American who can't locate the Pacific Ocean on a map should be given a first hand introduction to it's offshore nature from a 5000 foot drop. People who don't care about where they are in a location context don't care about their lives.

It really doesn't amaze me as much as it annoys me. These people are parasites, they're not going to pitch in. "Why do I care where Canada ... or the public toilet ... is. I'm here and I'm gonna stay here. Don't you look at my leg or the puddle."

No living creature on this Earth is sensory dead to its surroundings and status. Amoebas and paramecium feel warmth and tactile movement. Plants open for sun and bloom for pollination. Every creature, no matter how simple, brainless and insentinent has some situational sense. All life, that is, excepting American Public High School Graduates.

[NathanR]

We need to have situational awareness. Where are we, what are our resources, where our are potential threats, what can we defend against encroachment from foreign elements.

Absolutely. I know a man who has total situational awareness in a four block radius, and because of that it is safe for a white person to be there after dark. Eight blocks away in the courthouse where I worked a year ago, you had to move your car to the underground parking garage from the daytime parking area if you worked there at night because it was not safe.

That is the kind of situational awareness most people need.