SENSE: A Field Guide to Science & Culture

La Rubia Que Todos Quieren

SENSE

A Field Guide to Science & Culture
Theory . Storytelling . Transformation

Down in the Sierrita Mountains (one of the 'sky island' mountain chains of southern Arizona), a hunter who believes in Edward O. Wilson's theory of 'biophilia' recently suggested that we receive emotional, spiritual and psychological benefits by our contact with nature.

[Might PETA people feel alarmed to learn hunting really focuses on self-renewal and self-actualization? ... Would it seem rude to suggest to this fellow that activities as diverse as showering each morning, creating music compositions, writing a blog entry, or purchasing comprehensive auto insurance, also acknowledge that our world "...is built and administered by forces beyond our control? "]

Let's take heed to consider theories with a bit more oomph -- perhaps the Sexual Selection - Death Rate (SS-DR) theories of anthropologist Peter Frost?

Frost thinks north European women evolved blonde hair and blue eyes at the end of the Ice Age to make them stand out from their rivals at a time of fierce competition for scarce males -- blond hair originated in the region because of food shortages 10,000-11,000 years ago. A high death rate among male hunters increased sexual selection on early European women, and competition for males led to rapid change as women struggled to evolve the most alluring qualities (blonde hair indicates high oestrogen levels in women).

The MC1R blue-eyed blonde trumps biophilia and self-actualization, and somehow we just know she's a party girl (Ya, Arriba! Arriba! La Rubia Que Todos Quieren!).

Add to the SS-DR mix the 'showoff hypothesis' (Current Anthropology, April 2006): hunting and human evolutionary pressures (male scarcity) provide opportunities to garner social attention and increase one's mating prospects.

So there you have it -- men and women showing off their hunting and their coiffure. Scarcity, powerful advertising, and sexual selection -- quite a elite form of genetic brand marketing down through the ages, indeed.

Warren Zevon thought 'perfect' hair did the trick ("I saw a werewolf drinkin a pina colada at Trader Vic's, and his hair was perfect. Ahhooooo, Werewolves of London...").

That's what it's come down to. Ten thousand years of (conflated) evolution in action when the (now less scarce) urban male does his hair AND hunts.

sense.editor@yahoo.com

Shaken Not Stirred

SENSE

A Field Guide to Science & Culture
Theory . Storytelling . Transformation

The Phoenix Bond Election (March 2006) includes a proposal for a remote, redundant data facility about 50 miles from Phoenix (Civic leaders want greater security and continuity of revenue collection processes in times of trouble after a disaster). A Citizen’s bond technology subcommittee heard a call for creation of a Sister City program for improved data survival. The Mayor of Phoenix floated the idea, but it fell off the radar screen fairly quickly.

Let's consider the Great Sonoran Earthquake of May 3, 1887, nearly one hundred nineteen years ago -- although Sonora and Arizona had little infrastructure and few people, the Pitaycachi (Bavispe) earthquake caused widespread damage to property, 51 deaths, and many injuries; at Tepic, Sonora, the walls and roofs of every house fell shattered; at Oputo (56 kilometers northeast of Tepic), a church collapse killed 40 people seeking shelter from the quake; structures in southeastern Arizona also sustained damage.

Let's consider disaster in general -- Post-storm, post-flood New Orleans honors the past and the future as it prepares for Mardi Gras (February 28, 2006); and,  San Francisco celebrates the centennial of their earthquake and fire (April 18-20, 1906) with exhibitions, conferences, lectures, tours and media shows. According to Rebecca Solnit, disasters highlight both a failure of authority and a phenomenon of surprising human kindness, "...being in the moment, nonattachment, compassion for all beings, and awareness of mortality and ephemerality. From this perspective, disaster can be understood as a crash course in consciousness."

We should shake into action a plan -- a binational celebration to commemorate the one hundred twenty year anniversary of the Great Sonoran Earthquake -- an opportunity for Arizona & Sonora to celebrate culture and shared natural history, honor the dead, study geology, discover the sites & examine the ruins, consider the varied responses to disaster, and patch up the rifts of our recent past.

sense.editor@yahoo.com

Scarce Authenticity

SENSE

A Field Guide to Science & Culture
Theory . Storytelling . Transformation

Scarce Authenticity. Western Fakes Everywhere.

In the realm of fake cultural storytelling, an American Indian "Wannabe" now works at the National Security Agency. The "Theory of Making It All Up" serves so well, here: The anthropomorphic cartoon character dresses like Brittany Spears, plays lacrosse, and has a "sister" with downs syndrome. The Biligana also speaks Navajo, taught Navajo kids how to speak the "old Navajo language," and borrows the legacy of the WW II Navajo Code Talkers. Say what? The rest is -- history ??

CryptoCat, Age 15, Information Assurance Analyst: "My Family History: When I was three, I lived next to a Navajo reservation in Arizona with my parents who were schoolteachers on the reservation. I learned a lot about the customs and culture of the Navajo Indians from my babysitter who was an elderly Navajo woman. She even taught me how to speak the native Navajo language - pretty cool huh? My family moved away from the reservation right before I entered high school. It was pretty tough moving away from all my friends, but after I adjusted to my new surroundings and high school, I met a lot of great friends that I love hanging out with every day. My BEST Friend: Decipher Dog by far! We've known each other for a few years and became really good friends after I started developing my own codes. He's not very interested in making his own codes, however, he seems to like breaking all of the ciphers I create - so I keep developing new codes in hopes that one day he won't be able to crack it. When I?m not at school: I'm usually hanging out with my friends at the mall or catching the latest movie. I love helping people so I find different ways to help out around the community. Right now, I volunteer as a swim coach for children with special needs. It's a lot of fun AND I get to spend extra time with my sister who has Down's Syndrome. I also like playing field hockey and lacrosse, and I'm learning how to play Ultimate Frisbee with the other CryptoKids. "When a secret needs to be kept, you have to find a way to protect it!" How I became interested in Cryptography: I guess you could say I really got into cryptography at an early age. When I was at school on the reservation, I learned that many of the other children didn't know how to speak the old native language. I thought it would be a lot of fun to teach them the language and we eventually began communicating to each other using Navajo code words. Eventually, our teachers began to figure out our messages and we had to learn new ways to create codes. The only way to break one of our new codes was to know the Navajo word we used as the "key" to crack each message. The encryption was so tough that even our teachers couldn't break them! In high school, I became well known for my code making skills and was asked to enter a cryptography competition with my friend Decipher Dog. We had such a great time and learned so much that D-Dog and I started our own club called the CryptoKids. And the rest is history!"

AND THEN, THERE IS THE NSA ARCHAEOLOGIST ...

"I’m Definitely Not Ordinary -- Being the daughter of two archaeologists, I get to spend every summer with my parents on one of their digs. It sounds kind of boring, but it’s really a lot of fun. While they’re at work, I get to learn about other cultures and how to speak new languages. I have a lot of pen pals from all over the world and I’ve gotten to see some pretty neat sights. My favorites include the pyramids of Egypt, the Sistine Chapel in Rome, the statues of Easter Island, and the ancient Inca fortress city of Macchu Picchu in Peru."

Since the agency seems to encourage employees (and here desires to train kids) to dissemble about the past all in the name of inauthenticity and 'cool,' these cartoon character fakes make one wonder how many dangerous fakes really work at NSA? Pity the phony Western history and imagined indigenous roots with which they strive to attract teenagers.

sense.editor@yahoo.com

Learning How To Surrender

SENSE

A Field Guide to Science & Culture
Theory . Storytelling . Transformation

Someone pointed me to KTB and the statement "... joy comes from being consistently thwarted, rejected, denied, and learning how to surrender to that..."

It is the '...learning how to surrender...' part that finds me really stumped and confused.

sense.editor@yahoo.com

Evolution Discounts Human Ego

SENSE

A Field Guide to Science & Culture
Theory . Storytelling . Transformation

Since media attention will focus on the 'science-conflict-religion' proxy fight ('Evolution Sunday' 12 February 2006), please note the complete lack of an 'Evolution Friday' or an 'Evolution Saturday.' Muslim and Jewish denominations must know something about compatibility that Christians have yet to figure out. Evolutionary theory -- fully harmonious with religious faith -- improves core human knowledge.

Let's reframe the evolution - intelligent design debate by considering choking (airway blockage). Intelligent Design proponents must accept that God was thinking intelligent design when he created the esophagus, and the various choking and gagging mechanisms that protect us from harm. Nonetheless, these very people prefer the utility of the Heimlich maneuver when tightening choking mechanisms restrict breathing. When the designed esophagus fails, people revert to applied physics (force) rather than prayer to solve the immediate problem. Faith in Intelligent Design leaves no safe haven for the choking person, only an ungentle trip to the afterlife. Use of the Heimlich, however, produces gratifying and immediate relief.

Unlike the clear outcome derived from use of the Heimlich maneuver, a paucity of clear results troubles many human actions. We seed the clouds and pray for rain, but western North America turns parched in long cycles that knock out any balancing schemes we create. We give a gift, but commit some grand social faux pax in the process. We take written tests, but the scores run deep in the lower range of expected returns. And so it goes...

When we fail and things turn from systematic to complicated and anecdotal, we: (1) begin to understand our unsavory doom (We've known our fate since early youth -- we must evade death as long as possible, and do it well, but we all face doom); (2) start to recognize that we know only a little bit about the universe, the world, and ourselves; and, (3) protest that it's still always all about us. The smallness of our understanding notwithstanding, Humans have healthy egos. When all things turn corrupt, we want God to come and save us first -- salvation is all about us (If ego fell from the equation, would Amoeba or the Zebra stand first in line at Heaven's Gate?).

Evolution describes change throughout our long existence as human beings, but evolution describes change for just about everything else, too -- thus, it sometimes appears that it discounts human ego. For zero-sum thinkers, such an affront seems quite hard to tolerate.

sense.editor@yahoo.com

Theory, Fa Subito!

SENSE

A Field Guide to Science & Culture
Theory . Storytelling . Transformation

On the island of Tannain (Vanuatu), residents celebrate John Frum Day (February 15) with totemic increase rites designed to entice cargo treasures as well as to celebrate a return to traditional customs. Most cargo cults of the region disappeared long ago (years of empty skies and seas have crushed all hope), but Tannain believers exude resilience that extends back some sixty years.

Likewise, every January for the last 48 years, the Hashknife Pony Express delivers a postal cargo to Scottsdale Arizona. While braving weather, terrain, modern-day obstacles and questionable personal hygiene practices, the cult known as the 'Scottsdale Jaycees' celebrates the Hashknife Riders' resilience of western character, a fetish they carry forward into the everyday commerce of sandwich making and trinket selling.

Interestingly, many university graduate students engage practices that functionally mimic those of Tannain and Scottsdale (e.g., fetish wine & cheese parties; supplication to professors, Republican neocons or radical anarchists; daily visits to Starbucks; alternate rounds of good and bad hygiene).

These varied groups all operate with a theory in their heads -- the 'Theory of Making It All Up' -- which serves as a provisional vision of the way they want group or individual reality to unfold into the future. Hope springs eternal where big men, heroes and religions conjure. Believe in them, desire them, and gain focus and direction to become like them.

Over the last 20-30 years, cult practitioners in Anthropology have deployed four theories (Practice Theory, Positionality Theory, Performance Theory, and Queer Theory), all seemingly human-focused and organized around individuals and groups reacting to gender or the body, and the conjured desires and impositions of others.

Sociologists, interested in teams and in organizational development, study achievement oriented practice theories to direct action -- for example, the Learning Action Matrix, a system that maps practitioners to process in order to foster continuous learning and achieve desired results.

Technology-oriented individuals keep their desire focused on consultants like Robbie Blinkoff, principal anthropologist with Context-Based Research Group. His company provides explanations of technology-mediated consumer behavior -- really, a theory for every desire.

The earth-focused turn to Solistalgia, a term coined by Glenn Albrecht, to understand how environmental change causes induced distress and sadness. The desire to resolve distress and sadness leads to positive involvement in place protection and restoration schemes that re-value landscapes and environments.

In 1963, Fran Jeffries presented a theory that everything depends upon timing -- Melglio stasera. Quite young at the time, captivated with nascent lust, I swallowed every word of her musical proposition. (A female acquaintance has similar problems with every move Troy Aikman makes).

Our desires and favorite theories work to dust up and quickly send us out the door each morning.

So yes, Theory!

Fa Subito! Quickly! Baby, go go go!

If you've anything to tell me it had better be tonight, or somebody else may tell me, and whisper the words just right...

sense.editor@yahoo.com