The Depth of generational experience
From the story of one familys depth
of history to a long term perspective
Kia whakatōmuri
te haere whakamua, I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my
past. (Māori)
This webpage
is still to be written.
It is said
that before the Battle of Culloden, the Highlanders recited the names of twenty
generations of their ancestors as inspiration for the forthcoming battle. They
attacked in wedges of ancestral blocks, with the older folk at the front to
inspire the later generations.
Long Term
Perspective
Perspective
from a sense of deep history and connection to it
Short Term
instant gratification buy now iphone generation -
runaway speculation 1929 crash governmental quick fix naturally driven by self interest primacy of now evolutionary biology
Tyranny of
clock since middle ages, digital distraction, presentism, speculation boom and
bust,
Colonising
the future terra nullius nobodys land Australia to tempus
nullius
Long term
Sense of
deep time, legacy, lineage, cathedral thinking, imagination
Frontal lobe
neural processing
Lasts 2m
years - Homo habilis cranial material doubled in size coincided with
capacity to think long term unique but not yet perfected, still not so good
at it still better at clear and present danger like all animals, but a new
trick
Impetus for
new way of thinking
· wayfinding and cognitive maps;
dreaming tracks of aborigines
· grandmother effect and extended
generations; long dependence of human children provide care, knowledge,
longer term perspective
· social cooperation, reciprocity and
trust; empathy, mutual aid coordinate and cooperate for long term goals
· tool innovation, advances in stone
technology, capacity to plan sequenced processes Levallois technique flints
tools on the moors around Farndale
Neolithic,
start of agriculture, planting a seed birth of agricultural societies
Generational
perspective
Grandmother
effect Victorian ancestors, five generations of experience eg Kilton
A couple of
decades of introspection social media and mobiles
New opportunity
from technology multi generational experience even 50 generations of
perspective
1550 arrival
in Cleveland to 2050 500 years circa 15 generations
1200 to 1550
emerging from Farndale 350 years - circa 10 generations
300 to 1200
Kirkdale land 900 years circa 25 generations
Say a story
of 50 generations