March 10, 2010

• "Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage. To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea" That lament could not have been possible had Franklin and Scott had this lost medical knowledge. In his closing paragraph the author wisely cautions against complacency toward science for, especially in these conservative times, we could easily go down this path again.
• Interesting. The moral of this story is screw the olive, always demand the twist of lemon! Possibly a good thing to remember if you're a monkey (or a seaman)... when life gives you lemons, ask for some Vaseline to go with it
• Thanks, polychrome, a fascinating read.
• This whole thing about new technology erasing the tracks of the old: could it be that we're missing something now as we view the ending of the oil-based economy and agriculture?.
• Not sure Dan. There's definitely going to be an education, as farmers have to adjust to a new climate with new crops and crop rotations. It will be interesting to watch...from a suitable distance.
• I remember when the Firefox books came out with the back to the land movement of the 60-70s. Other than kids who might dust them off and grab them from their parent's bookshelves to read, I imagine most of that knowledge isn't available to the last two generations. For centuries we've been able to rely on relatively permanent, easily accessible knowledge rather than word of mouth and tribal memory. What happens when everything goes digital and the power grids go down because Ma Nature has a hiccup? One freakin' big solar flare could set us back pretty quick.
• Only as far back as the books though (I love books). Which would not be that bad. Actually, for scary, I've often wondered what would happen if a big science publisher went out of business - a lot of journals are primarily accessed online these days. If those servers vanish...