https://www.flickr.com/photos/drwtwilner
Traveling in France, our guides were mostly Ph.D. students in European art, architecture, or history, and they gave us three comparisons that we had not acquired from previous trips to Europe.
1. The French Revolution (of 1789-99) has less in common with USA's revolution of 1776 than it has in common with Mao's Cultural Revolution of 1966. The great extent to which the revolutionaries destroyed cultural artifacts was tragic.
2. The Hundred Years's War (1337-1453) has a lot in common with today's Sunni vs. Shiite wars, or ISIS vs. everybody. (So, one tactic that the USA could take with respect to ISIS is: wait 120 years for it to burn out.)
3. When we visited Notre Dame, Chartres, and various other cathedrals that included reliquaries, the guides used the very same language that we encountered in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. "This is the {relic/stone} that we parade through the village when disease is present." "This is the {relic/stone} that we parade through the village when enemies are threatening." No spiritual progress in 50,000 years. (So, one tactic that the USA could take with respect to religious fundamentalism is: wait 50,000 years and see if anything changes.)
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Monday, May 18, 2015
Clothes of the Future
Central heating changed clothing. In the days of drafty stone houses/castles, one still had to wear many layers. Now, only the homeless dress as kings did 1000 years ago.
I am expecting nanotechnology to change clothing once again. I am waiting for someone to invent a clothing material that functions like improved skin: flexible, impervious to viruses, capable of insulating or cooling the body underneath.
I expect it to react to hazardous objects: blunting the point of an incoming needle, turning to stone in response to a knife's edge, and catching an incoming bullet before it can damage the wearer.
I also expect it to have similar properties to a cuttlefish: changing color, flashing mesmerizing patterns, adjusting shape somewhat. That's the layer that people will tattoo, not their own skin.
Yes, it'll be expensive, but you'll only need one garment to project a million variations.
I am expecting nanotechnology to change clothing once again. I am waiting for someone to invent a clothing material that functions like improved skin: flexible, impervious to viruses, capable of insulating or cooling the body underneath.
I expect it to react to hazardous objects: blunting the point of an incoming needle, turning to stone in response to a knife's edge, and catching an incoming bullet before it can damage the wearer.
I also expect it to have similar properties to a cuttlefish: changing color, flashing mesmerizing patterns, adjusting shape somewhat. That's the layer that people will tattoo, not their own skin.
Yes, it'll be expensive, but you'll only need one garment to project a million variations.
Friday, February 13, 2015
Ratio of truth to falsehood
How many facts does a person know? How many falsehoods?
We assume that as a person matures, the number of falsehoods diminishes and the number of facts increases. We use the word "foolish" to describe someone who has more falsehoods than facts in their brain, "wise" to describe the opposite.
I am troubled by the thought that many people go through life without ever becoming wise, without ever possessing a great many more facts than falsehoods. Perhaps the ratio of facts to falsehoods averages out to 1:1 for a large population.
Is the world as a whole becoming wise? Or is the number of falsehoods that people believe growing just as rapidly as the number of facts that they learn?
The Dark Ages seems to be a time of foolishness, but don't ignore the wealth of practical knowledge than many people possessed. The Renaissance seems to be a time of growing wisdom, but don't ignore the wealth of superstition that many people possessed.
What about today? I fear the number of people who believe that children are vulnerable to a "sugar rush" is growing while the number of people who know that sugar has been proven to not increase activity in children is shrinking. One could write down a host of similar observations. Maybe humanity is not on a journey to wisdom, but instead is merely muddling through with a nearly constant 1:1 ratio of facts to falsehoods.
We assume that as a person matures, the number of falsehoods diminishes and the number of facts increases. We use the word "foolish" to describe someone who has more falsehoods than facts in their brain, "wise" to describe the opposite.
I am troubled by the thought that many people go through life without ever becoming wise, without ever possessing a great many more facts than falsehoods. Perhaps the ratio of facts to falsehoods averages out to 1:1 for a large population.
Is the world as a whole becoming wise? Or is the number of falsehoods that people believe growing just as rapidly as the number of facts that they learn?
The Dark Ages seems to be a time of foolishness, but don't ignore the wealth of practical knowledge than many people possessed. The Renaissance seems to be a time of growing wisdom, but don't ignore the wealth of superstition that many people possessed.
What about today? I fear the number of people who believe that children are vulnerable to a "sugar rush" is growing while the number of people who know that sugar has been proven to not increase activity in children is shrinking. One could write down a host of similar observations. Maybe humanity is not on a journey to wisdom, but instead is merely muddling through with a nearly constant 1:1 ratio of facts to falsehoods.
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