 Atlantis and Beyond...
There are several thoughts and theories about where the lost city of Atlantis used to be,
and more importantly, what happened to it. Atlantis is first mentioned in Plato's
"Timaeus" and "Critias" dialogs. In his version, the city is at the
front of Heracleses temple, beyond the sea. As the story goes, the civilization was way
ahead of its time and very developed.
So, did Atlantis really exist, or was it just fantastic fiction? Well, even though it's
safe to say that the city is a myth, the stories surrounding it are interesting and
entertaining, including Francis Bacon's "New Atlantis," where he uses the idea
of Atlantis as a way to both look at the past and predict the future.
Move forward a few centuries and you have "Atlantis Evolution" - a single player
video game that provides a 3D world of Atlantis and offers plenty of puzzles to solve. The
story is structured very neatly, and combines Plato's "Atlantis" with Francis
Bacon's "New Atlantis." The game starts with a photographer being lost at sea,
who somehow ends up on an alien planet - similar to Bacon's "Atlantis," where a
group of sailors get lost and finds the famed lost city. Plato refers to Atlantis as an
ideal society. A woman, just like the one in the game, is the ruler. It seems to be full
of similarities to those old tales, which fascinated me as I explored this virtual
"Atlantis."
What these stories and the game inspired
me to think about was the notion of imagination and how it is perceived in our society. I
feel that imagination has no limits. But, for years, I've observed some people being
called childish because of what they imagine. This could be why some people are afraid to
let their imagination take flight. They like to frame their thoughts within rational
bounds. Rationality is, of course, necessary. But without imagination we would not have
seen so many of the developments we take for granted! Think of the person who first
imagined man flying! It's fair to say that he was told it was simply impossible and even
imagining such a thing was just a waste of time. But in the end, passionate people, who
imagined the ability to fly, invented machines to make their dreams come true despite the
skeptics. So, it appears that imagination is useful after all, eh?
If you are interested in
"Atlantis," and having your mind opened to the fantastic world of imagination,
have a look at the books and the game I mentioned.
Hold on to your dreams! Fair well for now
Alev Dešim (COMD/III)
contactinspector@yahoo.com
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