The technology has advanced dramatically, but the underlying philosophy remains the same: that there is something profoundly enlightening about seeing these patterns of life and death laid out in cartographic form. The bird's-eye view remains as essential as ti was back in 1854. When the next great epidemic does come, maps will be as crucial as vaccines in our fight agains the disease. But again, the scale of the observation will have broadened considerably: from a neighborhood to an entire planet.

The ghost map [219/299]

(Steven Johnson, 2006, Penguin Books)