Man, this question can be answered in a lot of different ways, but I guess that's why they are vague. Here's my take on it, filled with generalities and predicated on a conversation I had yesterday.

I think that to a lot of the people who live in this picture, the rest of the earth doesn't really matter. Some of the younger people have never lived anywhere else, and don't plan to, or don't want to. Others dedicated their lives toward getting there. The geography in this picture is in some way attached to their existence. This is their paradise and it doesn't get any better. But when I took this picture yesterday, I kept trying to imagine would how much better it would be if it weren't populated.

I've heard a lot of people describe themselves as either a beach person or a mountain person. Only weird people, cult members, and serial killers are attracted to the desert. I don't know if there's some kind of geographic aesthetic that creates a programmed, intrinsic response in us, but it sure seems like it. Maybe it has to do with an ancient lineage; my dominant ancestry comes from the Italian side of the Alps, and I would say I'm more of a mountain person.

But I've also met people who live in shitty areas, and don't feel one way or another about it. I've even met people who have spent their entire lives in those areas without entertaining the idea of leaving. I think the overarching quality here is a feeling of home rather than a lack of appreciation for whatever natural beauty makes the pit of their stomach feel weird.

I think people who have an idyllic version of home are strange, but I understand that certain places in the world can invoke a feeling of completeness and that those places differ between everyone for reasons we probably can't comprehend.

As for myself, I don't know what the world means to me. Sometimes I think that there are pieces of myself scattered around in it, and that I should abandon everything to search for them.