permaculture

[John Schinnerer <John-Schinnerer@data-dimensions.com>]

Aloha,

-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence F. London, Jr. [mailto:london@metalab.unc.edu]
>And other than what he taught you and others by word of mouth (did you
>write it all down or tape record it?) that body of knowledge will pass on
>with him when he dies. Had he a computer and an ISP he could have shared/
>recorded/syntheszed that knowledgebase with the rest of the world. 

I don't imagine that he could have shared much of his embodied knowing via
computer and internet (and certainly not with "the rest of the world" - only
with the tiny percentage who have internet access).  It doesn't transmit, it
doesn't digitize, it is too rich and complex for such a one-dimensional,
non-living manner of transmission.  And it is a process, not a collection of
data.  Some "facts" could be recorded, no doubt, but to me (and, I suspect,
to our species) it is the whole experience that matters.  Otherwise we are
simply repeating the mistake of thinking that the whole is nothing more than
the sum of its parts.

It's fine to take advantage of the technology we've got while we've got it,
but I don't favor depending on it or expecting it to do things it can't.
It's much too fragile.  The oral culture of Hawai'i maintained and
transmitted the knowledge required for food, shelter and community systems
(not to mention open ocean navigation, etc.) for thousands of years (and
there are plenty of other examples all over the world...).  That's what I'd
call a fault-tolerant data storage system... ;-)  Traditional Polynesian
navigation is now being revived in the only way it can be - through
apprentices living the experience until they know it with all of themselves.

That's what I like about the best of permaculture at present - it's people
living bioregionally appropriate processes and inviting other people to
learn by getting involved in those processes.  Inviting people
from/traveling to other bioregions provides necessary cross-fertilization.
It all comes down to human relatings...

John Schinnerer


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