This is not a rant...

... but merely a suggestion, based on bringing a trend to its logical conclusion:

Seeing as how, at any given time, the act people taking pictures of themselves pervades most public spaces designated for socializing (e.g. a bar, a club, a restaurant) and even public spaces not meant for socializing (e.g. I see packs of friends taking pictures of each other sitting on the subway, waiting for a bus, etc...), I wonder whether eventually all public spaces will be documented and archived automatically with the help of public cameras.

Think of it the possibilities: Not only will such documentation save us the trouble of carrying our own cameras, but it will do a more thorough and comprehensive job. If you and your friends want a picture standing by the Lincoln Memorial, you'd simply access the website (almost in the same way you would search for a location on Google Maps), plug in the date/time and there it would be.

I won't bore you with the possibilities I've considered, but I can assure you they are rather neat-o.