What I found most interesting in the readings this week was the second article, Vast Expanses: A History of the Oceans. In the article, the author discussed how knowledge has played a role in our changing perspective of the ocean. Through new knowledge, we have strengthened the connection between mankind and the ocean. But, this knowledge is a double edged sword, as this knowledge has also given more opportunity for exploitation of the ocean, control, expansion of power, and increased accessibility. As the author states: “Knowledge about the ocean–created through work and play, through scientific investigation and also through the ambitions people have harbored for using the sea–has played a central role in mediating the human relationship with this vast, tackless, opaque place” (p.4). The ocean has been discovered through both scientific investigation, and ambitions for use, as Rodzadowski states. This is important to note because it reveals that while we have what appears to be a scientific, objective interest in the ocean, we also have a deep urge to capitalize and dominate the ocean. Perhaps we can chalk this up to differences in people–scientists versus entrepreneurs and capitalists–or perhaps we can argue that every person will face a similar struggle at some point in their lifetime. Even the scientific approach has selfish reasons, humans crave to understand everything in this world; of themselves, of the other, of the distant. One can argue that science is objective, and studying the ocean is purely for the attainment of objective knowledge, yet, as this passage argues, this knowledge can have a negative effect. I do not believe that scientific investigation and ambitions for use are different; they tend to overlap far too much. Rodzadowski also describes the ocean as ‘vast, tackless, opaque’. In this way, he almost makes the ocean less human, less personified than many other texts we’ve read. Tactless is to be without manners or rude, and this word creates an ocean that has little regard for the rest of nature, including us humans. His use of the word opaque also makes the ocean mysterious, separate and hidden from us.