Wednesday, December 06, 2006

A Reply to the Minx Labels: archaeology, astronomy, history

posted by Martin at 22:01 Yea! Hi Martin, I'll be back, I just noticed this wonderful post of yours...and I am running out the door to a rap concert...but I'll be back!

06 December, 2006 22:22 Henrik said...

Funny that you should post apic of a swiss cuckoo-clock. It's a standing joke that the swiss themselves believe they invented everything. If you'd ever want to impress a swiss sales rep just sneak in the sentence "Oh, and in fact you invented that thingadybob in Switzerland, didn't you?" - He'll be weak in his knees with admiration for your great knowledge of swiss inventions!

They'd probably claim that Antikhytera gadget too, if they could!

Concerning the written/oral memory discussion I would like to point to the 'ars memoria' or art of memory practised by the greeks (and the romans and the swiss, of course!).
That way of storing information as non-written memory might be as, if not more, precise than written information.

"They knew more about the movements of the heavens and it's importance to everyday life than a grad student in astronomy does today" said missy minx and I agree completely. I have done some (not very profound) research on sundials (sun clocks) and I now know far more about the movements of celestial bodies than a grad student in astronomy.

I asked a friend of mine who holds a 2-year MA in astronomy how the moon moves in relation to the sun when seen from the earth. He had no idea. 'I just do advanced math' was all he could say.

07 December, 2006 00:04 Hi Martin,

Sorry it took so long for me to respond to some of your questions, and good questions they were.

I just made a quick post, as with most interesting and important questions, they can not be answered by short time, but often deserve attention reflecting the history behind the questions. I suppose really I just tried to point you in the right direction. Showed you the water.

The history of astronomy in preliterate cultures deserves more than my quick post responding to your questions, but I pointed to some of the places where you can dig further.

Henrik, I quoted part of your comment over at my place too. You were apt to bring up the art of memory, something I have been studying for most of my life. I am a big fan of Giordano Bruno, what a mind, what a thinker! His world on alternate universes is invaluable as his study of the history of the art of memory.
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