|
Dear Jim
As far as I can tell we are in complete
agreement.
I joined this group primarily because I am writing
a reference work on ancient and medieval world coinage, which will
have a substantial metrological content. So it has been interesting to me
to see how live debate actually runs in the modern world. I learning some
things - from Bill on Kibibytes for instance. But the sort of 'political'
stances folk take up has been maybe more interesting to me.
On metric stuff - I routinely quote
historical weights to two standards - the appropriate historical one and
metric. If you do not quote the historical standard you fail to understand
the system you are looking at. But if you do not quote an 'absolute'
standard too then you will likely fail to see the kind of supra-national
relationships that exist. I believe by using metric in this context I have
made a few new discoveries, because previous scholars have not used metric and
have ended up with a somewhat blinkered nationalistic view of the
situation.
Regarding your A) I certainly agree. My
additional point would be that a big part of the population are poor at maths -
and maybe getting worse. They think in 'cubic whatsits' Since (say)
both a cubic yard and a cubic metre are both cubic whatsits - metric conversion
is a very painless process for them! I see no sign that the state
schooling is going to solve this problem (I fear we are going backwards).
So the answer in regard to (say) medication for babies is both metrication and a
rigorous professional exam system to make sure only competent people are
involved. I do not see that selling apples by the pound has much to do
with this.
Regarding Orwell. As a kid I did athletics for
fun, and could manage 440x in 1' and a mile in 5' . 1500m seems a
phoney distance to me - and I do not watch much but the marathon on TV any more
(gave up actually breaking into a trot myself 20 years back!) This
is not an important matter in itself - folk can do what they want to do.
But in 1984 Winston Smith complained that he could no longer get a pint of beer
and that half a litre was too little and a litre was too much. So I plan
to stand shoulder to shoulder with Orwell on this. Not primarily because
Orwell was right (tho' I think he was) - but because there do seem to me to be
sinister political overtones to the kind of authoritarian fatalist outlook
that Pat and co bring with their view of the world.
A while back I referred to the first metric
currency system - due to an egalitarian Confucian Chinese guy Wang Mang about 9
AD. But about 200 years before that China had a forced standardization of
its weights and measures system set up by the First Chin Emperor - the earliest
forced unification I know of. Now everybody knows of some of the
achievements of the First Chin Emperor. He was the guy who built the great
wall. And the guy buried with that pot army. But almost nobody
knows what he stood for - a version of legalism that took totalitarianism to its
theoretical limits - reducing human beings to robots. Here are some quotes
from his philosophy - the Book of Lord Shang (taken from memory)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The state exists to make war
Life should be made so hard for farmers that they
long to die in battle
If the people are strong the state will be weak -
make the people weak and the state will be strong
If the people are clever the state the state will
be stupid - make the people stupid and the state will be clever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The book of Lord Shang was translated in 1928 by
Duyvendak. Only printed in one edition and long since unavailable. A
fact I always thought kind of sinister in itself.
Both my father and grandfather were called up to
fight in wars created by authoritarian ideologies. I was lucky. I
suspect if my children are spared this their children may not be.
Metrication issues are - as you say - trivial in comparison.
I have long wondered if Orwell read Duyvendak's
translation - and think I shall disappear from USMA now to research that
matter.
Many days I think of the world outside my door
as a lunatic asylum - so it was really good to see you stand up and prove it is
not (entirely) so.
If you promise to leave my pint of beer alone I
will wish you success in all else!
all the best
rob
|
- [USMA:32451] Re: Metric & Freedom (Was USMA announcement] ewc
