You Have Been Conquered by the Machine

If you’re not from New York and you walk through Greenwich Village without a map or a smartphone, there’s a decent chance you’ll get disoriented. The narrow streets of the neighborhood intersect at unexpected angles. Most have names, not numbers, and even the numbered streets are confusing: West 4th Street is crossed by West 10th and West 11th Streets. But if you wander a little ways uptown, eventually you’ll find yourself on the Grid Plan. The avenues count down from east to west. The streets count up from south to north. Every block is the same length and every corner at a right angle. It all makes rational sense. You can just trudge forward like a robot and know you’re moving in the optimal direction.