OTW: Evolution or Extinction? Choose.

(6 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

OTW = Off The Wall, is my Thursday semi-regular series in which I try to talk about culture, anthro, or whatever else happens to be bouncing around in my head. h/t this week to Ria who got me goin’ on this one! ~LL

The field of Anthropology basically has four sub-fields or disciplines: Archeology, Physical APY, Cultural APY, and Linguistics. As an under-grad majoring in Cultural, I was required to take a basic course in each sub-field. Much to my relief, I was excused from having to take Statistics or any other mathy stuff. Don’t tell anybody this, but that’s half the reason I chose it. heh.

It was a long time ago, and I’m terrible at remembering all this, but I’m often amazed at the things that stand out, the things I do recall. There are few things I can think of that might bore me more than bones, skulls, and arrowheads. Sorry, but especially at the ripe young age of 19, I really could’ve cared less.

My Prof for Archeology, the class I dreaded the most, turned to be the inimitable Charles H. Fairbanks. Thank you God.

The year was approximately 1975. The man was already older than dirt itself. And brilliant. Oh, and… the price of gas had skyrocketed to an outrageous cost at close to $1.00 per gallon. And all that other stuff I forget, y’know, shortages, long lines, etc. (dont hit me… yes I can feel ek & turkana cringing… lol)

Charles H. Fairbanks, 1913-1984

His early involvement in historical archaeology is reflected in his participation in professional societies. {snip} As a teacher, Charles Fairbanks directed more than 20 M.A. students and 11 Ph.D. students. His style was a combination of personal concern, rigorous standards, staunch loyalty, and occasional towering rages. It mesmerized his students and inspired great affection as well as a healthy respect for both his scholarship and his opinions. The annual Charles H. Fairbanks Armadillo Roast, which celebrates his birthday, is in its fifteenth year, and is a major social event and academic homecoming for a considerable number of historical archaeologists.

Charles Fairbanks was a thorough and uncompromising scholar, as well as an uncompromising man of principle. He was inherently fair, giving equal consideration to colleagues and students, to hired workers and interested amateurs, and to men and women. Once committed, he could be relied upon completely as an ally and supporter, but he had little patience for bureaucratic red tape, or for what he considered to be restrictive or unnecessary formality. Both true and apocryphal tales of Chuck’s uninhibited dealings with red tape and formalities are swapped regularly in more than one archaeological field camp. He was a man of direct physical action who was also ceaselessly observant of and curious about the natural and cultural worlds. To those of us fortunate enough to have been his students, he gave a truly holistic and anthropological view of the world and its workings.

I mean, the man was … cool! He really made it interesting, fascinating even, and he always put things into context and perspective. A truly excellent teacher, he made it relevant.  

This stuff never fails to blow my mind:

Early humans first migrated out of Africa into Asia probably between 2 million and 1.8 million years ago. They entered Europe somewhat later, between 1.5 million and 1 million years. Species of modern humans populated many parts of the world much later. For instance, people first came to Australia probably within the past 60,000 years and to the Americas within the past 30,000 years or so. The beginnings of agriculture and the rise of the first civilizations occurred within the past 12,000 years. source

So let me get to the part I remember, sorta.  We had followed this whole progression, he put it in a frame of, oh, developing tools and managing or manipulating the environment, all toward the common basic goal of survival…. and in context of the time lapsing. (My apologies, Im going by memory as I dont have time to research this like I should.) Anyway, so, here we are for umpteen gazillion years with this rock as our only tool. Then Man figures out a second tool. Then 1 + 1 = 3 somehow, and it accelerates at relative lightning speed from there. Very cool.

So, that 1 + 1 = 3 thing.  I asked, naive little me, probably surrounded by a bunch of science geek pre-med types, who would never embarrass themselves with such dumb questions, I asked: looking at the timelines… why…? how…? so fast?!? He explained… it’s so simple… it’s exponential. With one tool ya got … one tool. With two tools, you can use them together to fabricate 3, then 6 more, then 27…. and so on. And he went further again, and brought it up to modern times and added more context and perspective.

The acceleration… and how it all ties in with energy and managing or manipulating the environment, all toward the common basic goal of survival.

That … is how simple it really is.

Really.

Get up to speed, homo sapiens, we don’t have much time.

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.

~Mark Twain