A Different Drummer

After the congress finished, we went on the obligatory visit to the Taj Mahal, just a couple of kilometres away from the conference site. I must admit now, to my shame, that I almost didnt go. I was so exhausted and tired, and the prospect of a day just lazing about in the wonderful conference site (an ass kicking 5 star Indian hotel, far and away the best place I have ever stayed) was pretty attractive to me. Line up a few beers by the swimming pool, grab that wonderful book I have been reading ("A Devils Chaplain", by Richard Dawkins, just read it), and enjoy. Besides, I thought, I have seen pictures of the Taj Mahal all my life, I have seen it from a distance here, is there really much more to it than that? I had fallen for the old "Pyramids Logic" - there really is nothing much special about the Pyramids from a distance of 10 metres that isnt special from 10 kilometres away. Honestly, they are amazing, but they don't really improve with proximity. Well, luckily, I didnt fall for this logic here - I quickly gave myslef a reality slap - "Tom, you are less than 5 kilometres from the Taj Mahal - if you don't go, you will be cursed for life". So I went.

In short, the Taj Mahal is incredibly, incredibly more amazing when seen in the flesh, up close, than in photos or from a distance. The incredible intricacy and detail of the Koranic script embedded across the walls and entrance, of the beautiful jewelled flowers set into the wall, of the amazing interior - all these things really dont come across in a postcard.

We don't build them like this anymore, for whatever reason. We've really given up on building incredible things, especially incredible monuments, shrines and temples. I'm not religious, in fact I'm pretty certain that religion is an actively negative force in our world today - but credit where it is due, it seems to be that religious belief played a big role in the creation of some of the worlds most beautiful things. Why can't we secular humanists build grand wonderful things? I guess, firstly, self aggrandisement has gone out of fashion in most places that have the money and cultural worth to build these kind of things. Most of these big beautiful creations come from an age when absolute monarchs and rulers built or ruled over hugely prosperous societies and civilisations, and these rulers built monuments, essentially to themselves. This kind of self worship might still be possible in Zimbabwe or North Korea, but in most other countries few leaders, business or social, have the guts to pay tribute to themselves so openly, and at such a price.

Materials like marble, jade, sandstone, granite etc have also been long out of use - and I wonder if we have actually lost or forgotten some of the knowledge in how to work with them in such big ways. Obviously steel, concrete or glass are more practical, cheaper, and more available - but lets be honest, they look pretty average 99% of the time. If I think of the most beautiful modern buildings, none of them lay a hand on the Taj Mahal. And although skyscrapers achieve sizes never reached by old school momument and wonder builders, they certainly lack the permanency and "solid" sense of eternity of the pyramids. I am no structural engineer, but I am pretty sure that the two 747's that took out the World Trade Centre buildings would hadrly have put a dent into the pyramids.

Wonders of our modern world are more often achievements than contstructions. Human beings driving around the moon on a golf cart is, to me, as impressive as and of the ancient wonders, and the fact that I type this while on the internet, wireless, on my laptop, in a small cafe in Delhi, is a testament to civilisation in itself.

There is still hope. We still have rich, religious leaders who have the capacity to get cracking on some truly amazing modern wonders. Some of the most religious people in the world are also currently the richest, and are conveniently the inheritors of 1500 years of wonderful architectural, cultural and aesthetic traditions. Yes, Arabs, I am looking at you. How about a new mosque to rival the greats of Istanbul, Cairo, Rabat, Delhi? I remember a friend in Cairo telling me that the modern, Saudi interpretation of Islam is that a mosque does not need to be beautiful, in fact, the more beautiful it is, the less attention is paid to the serious business of prayer. Fuck that. Build a big mosque, sissies. Prove to us you are still worthy of the great civilisation builders before you. I guarantee, Saladin, Sulieman the Magnificent, Mehmet the Conqueror and all those other great Arab rulers of the past would be in full support. And given that your religious buddies the Taleban destroyed one of the worlds great wonders just a few years ago, I believe you have extra bad civilisational karma to correct. Get cracking.

I suppose Mecca counts for something. Under Saudi custodianship, Mecca has been built up into a true wonder of the world. At full capacity, the complex can hold something like two million pilgrims, and during the Hajj, few places in the world look as incredible. Mecca did not previously look like this - it has been spiffed up and beautified by the Saudis to a huge degree. But two problems remain - first, interested onlookers aren't allowed within 200 kilometres of the place, to the shame of all Muslims, and second, the fundamentals of the structure were still built by old timey Mosque architects from a previous age. For the Arabs to represent themselves in the Modern Wonders challenge, they will need to make something all new, and something that I can at least have the privelege of viewing from a distant hilltop.

And what about our Catholic friends? Pope Jean Paul's life insurance payout must have filled up the vatican bank acocunt, and I'm sure that already had plenty of spare cash lying around. How about a new cathedral, one that really stuns the world into respecting your *dying* religion. It might even attract some new converts, especially in the third world where the poor and needy are always impressed by these kind of things. It could be a final desperate gamble, a last roll of the dice for a desperate Church searching for new admirers. Even I would clap and cheer and pay a visit to the Vatican at the prospect of a new wonder there.

We secular humanists have a role to play as well. We are far too humble about our achievements as a civilisation of objective realists. After all, we can and should take credit for almost all modern scientific achievement, the Renaissance, classical liberalism, democracy, popular culture, civil rights and the liberation of our women. All of these things were opposed in one way or another by organised religion, but the strength of our civilisation prevailed. Lets celebrate, and build something for the ages. Lets create a new island in the centre of the Atlantic, made entirely of some precious metal made precious only by our modern scientific achievements. Beryllium or Titanium would do the trick. On the island, lets build a vast silicon pyramid, totally transpearant, with a nuclear engine inside powerful enough to launch to pyramid into space once each month, travel to the moon, land, mine the moon for uranium, and return, precision guided, to its island a couple of days later.

Anyhow, this Taj Mahal topic got a bit hijacked. I guess my point is that we are missing out on something big if we cease in the tradition of Wonder building that has lasted for the past four thousand years. I pledge to everyone that once I have earned my first billion, five hundred million of it will go towards the construction of a great new wonder - and you are all welcome to join me.