tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-824802900660124636.post25610273794918114..comments2024-01-20T12:06:29.979-06:00Comments on Fencing Bear at Prayer: “Isn't that a bit narrow?"Fencing Bearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16825525662123382529noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-824802900660124636.post-59411291779637922492008-07-27T12:37:00.000-05:002008-07-27T12:37:00.000-05:00Wandered in from a Google search for interesting b...Wandered in from a Google search for interesting blogs, and yours surely is that!<BR/><BR/>My $0.02? "Narrow" seems to me a code word for "Why does it matter to me?" -- and many of the points you make in your post get to the heart of why what you're pursuing could matter to others. <BR/><BR/>I find the role of books in medieval Europe reflects something interesting about our own images-and-words-entwined modern culture, and there are many ways in which those deep narrow dives can shed light on things for people right now.Lori Witzelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04744273435691506484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-824802900660124636.post-60899928055793547392008-07-24T22:48:00.000-05:002008-07-24T22:48:00.000-05:00ocieties are super-organisms growing and surviving...ocieties are super-organisms growing and surviving (or not) based on what they, collectively, learn about the world. Group selection favors societies that make wise and efficient choices, based in part on their knowledge of the past and understanding of themselves. Jarrod Diamond, in Collapse, has vividly documented the fate of groups that lack this perspective.<BR/><BR/>This argues for the importance of specialized learning. If every member of society has the same broad and shallow knowledge (of history, of science, of politics) then our collective wisdom does not grow with our population. You just have more people thinking they know the same damn things. Every specialist, by contrast--every historian, taxonomist, and philosopher that delves into a deep and narrow field--increases the resources of the group as a whole. It is a luxury of a wealthy society that we can (and should) support such specialization, even if any given bit might seem obscure and irrelevant to many. (Though to speak up for taxonomists, you only think that knowing each and every tick in the world is unimportant up to the moment you get bit and infected by one...) If we as a society survive another few centuries, it will more likely be due to the cumulative wisdom and perspective of these scholars, than to the "useful" work of the industrialists whose short-sited greed erodes the resources on which we depend. <BR/><BR/>"And then there is Spring, and food used for other purposes, like fruit for making brandy" --Charles DarwinBodhibadgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13855697978901319125noreply@blogger.com