Implicasphere by Sally O'Reilly and Cathy Haynes
You know what they used to write at the edges of maps, way back before Europe and America knew one another existed? ‘There be dragons...’ Anything that was unknown was threatening, and to be avoided. Before the globe, the Earth was thought to be flat. If you sailed far enough you would fall off the edge. You would not arrive back at your starting point as you do now. People feared the Man-eating trees, talking animals and humans with dogs’ heads. The question is, then, now that we supposedly know the earth like the back of our hands – from the molecular structure of viruses to dizzying panoramas from space – is there anywhere left for us to run wild with our inventions and visions? Are there any nooks and crannies left where the absurd can live? Thankfully, there will always be the vast empires of fiction and folly. Reality is not always necessary. Maybe being wrong can even be useful. Yes, there is the saying ‘inventive with the truth’. You could say this is what Copernicus was when he said that the Earth went round the sun, and everyone laughed and said ‘don’t be daft – everything revolves around us’.
This is an 18th century Islamic map of the world.
Courtesy: Wellcome Library, London