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How Science Ignores the Natural World

2 Comments / Culture / /

Where the Buffalo Roam – How Science Ignores the Natural World : An interview with Vine Deloria, one of the most important living Native American writers. Central to Deloria’s critique of Western culture is the understanding that, by subduing nature, we have become slaves to technology and its underlying belief system.

“…Indians experience and relate to a living universe, whereas Western people – especially scientists – reduce all things, living or not, to objects. The implications of this are immense. If you see the world around you as a collection of objects for you to manipulate and exploit, you will inevitably destroy the world while attempting to control it. Not only that, but by perceiving the world as lifeless, you rob yourself of the richness, beauty, and wisdom to be found by participating in its larger design.”

“Science insists, at a great price in understanding, that the observer be as detached as possible from the event he or she is observing. Contrast that with the attitude of indigenous people, who recognize that humans must participate in events, not isolate themselves.”

This is the sort of thing you don’t hear very often and its very interesting. Deloria makes some great points (along with some I don’t particularly agree with, but are interesting nonetheless), especially about science and how it attempts to reduce everything to a paradigm. Doing so certainly has its value, but much like every other version of reality that is forwarded, science is not completely satisfactory.

“…the point is to ask the questions, and keep asking them.”

Right on. [via liquid gnome]

Heroic Apocalypse

Movies / /

Mad Max, Mythology and the Millennium : An extract from a book that regards the trilogy as a reconstitution of archetypal tales of social decline and rebirth. The Mad Max films were tapping into some of the classic story telling elements, seen in similar stories and myths of cultures worldwide. This conforms with Joseph Campbell’s concept of the Universal Myth (also seen in other films like Star Wars and the Matix) ; “the evolution of Max as hero – from his rejection of the ‘outside world’ due to personal tragedy in the first feature; his wanderings, trials and tests in the hostile wilderness of both the sequels; through to his individual (if not yet communal) reconciliation with his humane self in Beyond Thunderdome.” George Miller’s trilogy is certainly a thought-provoking and unexpectedly pertinent series. Interestingly, Miller’s other work includes the critically acclaimed series, Babe and Babe: Pig in the City, playful stories about a sheep herding pig (yes, you heard correctly).

More than Pong

Computers & Internet / /

This History of Video Games is fairly comprehensive, thoughtful and exceedingly interesting, even if you don’t care too much for video games. The history even goes as far back as the late 19th century, when Nintendo started as a playing card company; then it details the evolution of several companies leading up to the current day wars between Sega, Sony, and the upcoming Microsoft Xbox. Its funny to note the parallels with the internet’s collapse (and, hopefully, rebirth). After a short period of growing pains where several video game companies crashed, the industry rebounded with fewer but healthier players (Sega, Nintendo, and later, Sony). I still miss the glory days of the Commodore 64 though; I spent countless hours playing games like Test Drive and Airborne Ranger (one of my all time favourites). [via alt text]

Disjointed, Freakish Reflections™ on Web Browsers

Computers & Internet / /

Mozilla 0.9.1 was released today, to much fanfare. Even the Slashdotters are praising the latest release, which marks a monumental leap forward over Mozilla 0.9. After downloading it myself and playing with it, I’ve been very pleased, though I still have a few small gripes (right clicking on the menus should work damnit!). Otherwise it seems like a much leaner, cleaner, faster and more stable build. Great work, Mozilla developers; I’m looking foward to a 1.0 release soon. However, with the news that Netscape is going away, I don’t know if any browser will be able to put a dent in Microsoft’s stranglehold, which is a shame, because Mozilla is a really great browser. Right now, I’m going to continue using Opera 5.11, because that is the best browser I’ve ever used – its only dowside is that I can’t really use it to post on Blogger or 4degreez.

Some of my previous thoughts on Browsers:

Also worth noting is this article and this article by Joel Spolsky illustrating what Netscape did wrong with version 6. Mozilla has come a long way though, and I think by the time 1.0 comes out, there will be little to complain about.

Update: 4:45 p.m. ET

After using Mozilla 0.9.1 all day, I can say that while it has improved greatly over previous versions, it still has a ways to go before it can really compete with IE. I ran into a few bugs and it crashed a couple of times, so its not quite the rock solid browser I was looking for. It doesn’t even come close to Opera, which is still my browser of choice. But then, 0.9.1 isn’t a finished product, so I still think its coming along well and that the finished product could be worth it.

The Unknown Kubrick

Movies / /

This article focuses on the legendary filmmaker’s days as a photographer for Look magazine. While he was still in high school, at age 16, Kubrick happened to snap a photo of a newsstand owner on the morning following FDR’s death. He soon sold the photograph to Look, a well-known news and photo magazine in its day, for $25. When Kubrick finally managed to graduate from high school (he was not one for formal schooling), Look decided to employ him as an apprentice photographer. Its widely regarded that his cinematic style has its origins in his time at Look, which makes a lot of sense. Nowadays though, young directors start off with music videos or commercials (like David Fincher, for example).

Motivation

Culture / /

Structured Procrastination : an amazing strategy that converts procrastinators into effective human beings, respected and admired for all that they can accomplish and the good use they make of time. I like this optomistic approach, turning a weakness into a strength. This website itself is basically another project in a long series of attempts aimed at avoiding responsibility. Its funny how I have always noticed this situation, where I seem to be at my most creative when I’ve got tons of important stuff I should be doing, but never got around to articulating it like this guy did. [via cafedave.net]

Procrastination: “Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now.”

How Dare You?

Arts & Letters / /

The Soul of America by Neil Gaiman : In a preemptive attempt to answer a question he was dreading, Neil Gaiman askes of himself (in an extended version):

How dare you, an Englishman, try and write a book about America, about American myths and the American soul? How dare you try and write about what makes America special, as a country, as a nation, as an idea?

Much like his weblog (from which I lifted the link), the article is candid and fun to read, and it makes me want to read his new book, American Gods, right now (sadly, its not being released until June 19th). Also of note is this advance review by Mikewhy, webmaster of a popular Tori Amos fan site. Thanks to DyRE for that review.

explicit discouragement

Neal Stephenson / /

Why I am a Bad Correspondent by Neal Stephenson : A perfectly reasonable document that tries to explain why he is not very diligent about answering his mail, and why he doesn’t accept speaking engagements. He gives a summary:

“I am not a recluse or a misanthrope or a grouch. I simply cannot respond to all incoming stimuli unless I retire from writing novels. And I don’t wish to retire at this time.”

I found the document at Stephenson’s webpage, which is, in itself, a plea for people to leave him alone so that he may write his next novel. He cites the quote “We live in an age of continuous partial attention.” and goes on to explain that writing novels is one of those activities that requires ALL one’s attention. I find the idea of “continuous partial attention” to be a fascinating one, as it is something I try to avoid whenever possible. There is a certain attitude in our culture that expects us to be able to do everything at once and be happy about it. Personally, I would rather do one thing really well than do many things averagely. So I can see where Mr. Stephenson is coming from, I recognize it as a completely reasonable request and I am determined to do my part in helping him achieve his goal. That is to say, I am going to do nothing.

Nothing except link to The Big U, Stephenson’s first novel, self described as: a first novel written in a hurry by a young man a long time ago. Which basically means its not that good. I only mention it because its reproduced there in its entirety, and, until recently, its a hard book to find.

The Weakest Links

Computers & Internet / /

No. I would never, ever do such a thing. Trust in me, loyal patrons (all 3 of you). Rest assured, this post has nothing to do with the annoying gameshow of the same title. It has to do with links and usability. Apparently, someone thought up 23 ways to weaken Web site links, from the obvious (broken, wrong) to the subtle (miscolored, unexpected) to the unfairly accused (embedded, wrapped). Its an interesting read, though its funny to note that weblogging, by its very nature, seems to break some of these rules. Especially those pesky memepoolers! [via webmutant]

Incendiary Moviemakers

Movies / /

Interview with Oliver Stone and Darren Aronofsky: Its interesting to note the dynamic between the older veteran filmmaker and the fresh-faced, spunky young director. I’ve never been much of a fan of Stone (especially his newer works), but its clear that Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) looks up to him. I didn’t get the feeling that Stone had actually seen any of Aronofsky’s films, which I thought was kinda funny (though its probably not true). I saw Requiem for a Dream the other night; its probably the best flick of last year. I’m now looking into therapy though. Very brutal movie. Stylistically brilliant, Aronofsky pulls just about every punch in the cinematic book, and it works.

I’m looking forward to his upcoming projects too. Originally, he was going to work on a WWII haunted submarine movie called Proteus that was going to revolutionize the horror genre (he said this film would be the scariest film you’ve seen in the last ten years), but he chose to do Requiem instead and handed the script over to David Twohy (director of Pitch Black and The Arrival). Twohy renamed the movie Below and is reportedly retooling the script, which (for me) is bad news. I really would have liked seeing what Aronofsky would have done with it. Next up is Batman: Year One. Aronofsky is working with Frank Miller on a script, and if Warner Brothers likes it, he might also be directing. Don’t hold your breath though. Then there is this Untitled Aronofsky science fiction project that he keeps mentioning in interviews and talks, but refuses to give any details about… this is apparently the next thing we’ll see from him. He said the movie, which he co-wrote with his old roommate, would be huge in scope, and “freaky.” I can’t wait.