Really thoughtful piece, Rohit! I'd like to add one thing, though. Cathedrals—or other architectural marvels across Europe—were build as places of congregation. Public places where people would gather around as a community (well, and worship a god, a king, etc, but that's another story). In contrast, today's grand architecture is walled and restricted. It's individualist. And it reflects today's tech: centred around the individual, not the community. In my view, that's a rather anglo-saxon perspective, and it's what's eroding the sense of community across the globe. So I'd say, tech should build more public spaces, not necessarily more cathedrals.
Really thoughtful piece, Rohit! I'd like to add one thing, though. Cathedrals—or other architectural marvels across Europe—were build as places of congregation. Public places where people would gather around as a community (well, and worship a god, a king, etc, but that's another story). In contrast, today's grand architecture is walled and restricted. It's individualist. And it reflects today's tech: centred around the individual, not the community. In my view, that's a rather anglo-saxon perspective, and it's what's eroding the sense of community across the globe. So I'd say, tech should build more public spaces, not necessarily more cathedrals.
Agreed! That's the sense in which I was using cathedrals too, though perhaps a tad too obliquely :)