-----Original Message-----
From: Jay Hanson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Future Work <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: August 29, 1998 12:35 PM
Subject: It's our final exam
>>>Jay:
>>>Unfortunately, there are no other alternatives. Once we overshot
carrying
>>>capacity we were left with only two choices:
>"Carrying capacity" is not a metaphor any more than "people are animals" is
>a methpor. Both of these have explicit meanings and can be measured by
>scientists anywhere in the world.
Thomas:
Sitting and watching the "news" this morning, I was struck by the idea you
challenged that "carrying capacity" is not a metaphor but a "scientifically
explicit meaning". The question is, is the carrying capacity based on the
standards of the American middle class, a Bangledesh mother in the middle of
a flood trying to feed her three children for another day, or an Albanian
sitting in a Serbian concentration camp with no rations for the last three
days but still alive? These scientists that you seem to venerate have to
choose a set of criteria, is it calories per day, well Eskimos need more
calories in their environment than to African Bush pygmies in their
environment or well fed German burgers used to swilling calorie rich beer.
I don't think I see a one size fits all answer that "scientists" can put
forward as a "truth".
>"We humans no longer rely on the muscle of fight, the speed of flight, or
>the protective mask of shape and coloring for survival. We have come to
>depend on intelligence for life. This is a fateful gamble. It has put at
>stake our collective survival, and that of the whole biosphere.
Currently reading "My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn" while sitting on the john, I
came across this astounding observation:
Page 37
Ishmael: It's been extant in your culture for millennia."
"Excuse me, I said. (12 year old girl) "You keep saying that - 'the people
of your culture' - and I keep not being sure what you mean by it. Why don't
you just say 'you humans' or 'you Americans'?"
Ishmael: "Because I'm not talking about humans or Americans. I'm talking
about the people of your culture."
"Well, I guess you're going to have to explain that."
Ishmael: Do you know what culture is?"
"To be honest, I'm not sure."
Ishmael: "The word culture is like a chameleon, Julie. It has no color of
its own but rather takes color from its setting. It means one thing when
you talk about the culture of chimpanzees, another when you talk about the
culture of General Motors. It's valid to say there are only two
fundamentally different human cultures. It's also valid to say there are
thousands of human cultures. Instead of trying to explain what culture
means when it's all by itself (which is almost impossible), I'm just going
to exp;ain what I mean when I say 'your culture.' All right?"
"That's fine," I said.
Ishmael: "In fact, I'm going to make it even easier than that. I'm going
to give you two rules of thumb by which you can identify the people of your
culture. Here's one of them. You'll know your're among the people of your
culture if the food is all owned, it it's all under lock and key."
"hmmm," I said. "It's hard to imagine it being any other way."
Ishmael: "But of course it once was another way. It was once no more owned
than the air or the sunshine are owned. I'm sure your must realize that."
"Yeah, I guess so."
Ishmael: "You seem unimpressed, Julie, but putting food under lock and key
was one of the great innovations of your culture. No other culture in
history has ever put food under lock and key - and putting it there is the
conrerstone of your economy."
"How is that?" I asked. "Why is it the cornerstone?"
"Because if the food wasn't under lock and key, Julie, who would work?"
Thomas: You'll have to read the book to get the second rule of thumb. The
point of that quote though Jay is that all that appears true is based on
some basic assumptions - things we often never question or go deep enough to
find out. Imagine the effect of all the projections of science and the
economy if someone invented a way to provide human nutrition that wasn't
food as we know it and yet provided a healthy body. Immediately, all the
experts, whether of science or economics would be blowing hot air. The same
might be true of energy, if someone discovered how to use the energy of
anti-gravity, all the projections of our petroleum culture would be invalid.
Of course, those inventions are not here yet and may never be here and yet -
they might.
>
>"About five million years ago, the evolutionary line that led to modern
>humans diverged from African apes, the common ancestors of humans,
>chimpanzees, and gorillas. Apes are knuckle-walking quadrupeds; Homo is
an
>erect biped. Apes have large jaws and they have small brains (in the range
>of 300-600 cubic centimeters). Homo has a small jaw, and a fourfold brain
>size in the range of 1400-1600 cc.
>Only the scientists can save us now. But I believe our future is written
>in our past -- written in our genes. I expect "chaos and cannibalism".
>How could it be otherwise?
Thomas: One of the best minds in my opinion, Marshal McLuhan would have
said the opposite. It is the artists rather than the scientists who have
predicted the future and provided us with the directions that have led our
evolution. It is not the counter of beans or the labelers of "facts", but
the dreamer of dreams that is humans greatest achievement and that is not
necessarily an attribute of intelligence as it is the ability to translate
feelings and intuitions into mediums that move other humans.
>
>Jay -- www.dieoff.com
>
>
>
