Corrupting The Young
Spent the afternoon at a local alumni function talking to the next generation about why they should attend Cal (Go Bears!). Good group of people, all looking to fill their heads with knowledge and make their marks on the world.
I spent time with several students who were considering Political Science and had the chance to talk to them about both halves of my double major, the second half being Geography. Twice I got quizzed on state capitals. Just to vent a little bit and hopefully broaden a few perspectives, let me talk about Geography. It’s a liberal arts major and defined as:
State capitals are to geography as memorizing the Gettysburg Address is to U.S. history. They provide a simple, basic element of a complicated subject that can be taught by public school teachers. The goal is to get beyond the crayolas and start with the real questions: why… and what if…
Why did the city along the river grow faster than the city along the mountain pass? What are the implications of siting a goat path/road/train/interstate highway/monorail on one route over another? What is/was/would be the impact of one set of philosophical beliefs over another on land use, resource management, and human activity on the earth in general?
Or more to the point, why Cal? Why should an academically-oriented young person choose to go to Berkeley? Because. Because Berkeley is an absolutely unique treasure – a public institution with the highest tradition of academic excellence and diverse thought. Because the size and breadth of the campus resources allow the fullest possible personal exploration. Because the connections made there will be valued and valuable throughout one’s life, regardless of the path eventually chosen, whether it be followed or blazed. And because Oski rocks and nothing beats the view of the sun setting behind the Golden Gate bridge when viewed from Berkeley.
So I did my best to convince the young’uns to go to Berkeley. The world needs more Bears.
1. Members of Homo sapiens sapiens from about 60,0000 years ago tended to habitate areas where large bodies of water, especially fresh water, were prominent. Navigation and migratory patterns in early Homo sapiens sapiens were also much easier if a coastal area was involved.
2. Navigation routes have always tended to originate along the simplest navigable passes. With the rise of pastoralism and eventual agriculture and trade these routes became standardized based of access to trade, fresh water, and other natural resources.
Many forest paths became roads which in modern times became interstates which in even more recent times had the main form of transportation, the automobile, converted to light rail and others. However, the Monorail was considered a joke and is only found in Springfield.
3. Inevitably all extant human belief systems becomedestructive, even more so with those rooted in the Abrahamic traditions in which the most root concepts of manifest destiny/deity-granted special rights are inherent and thereby leads to population growth and a parisitical nature arises between Homo sapiens sapiens and the land.
In the future, hydraulic despotism will arise more easily in regards to wealth but this wealth will be in the form of access to fresh water sources. The current global power structure of Homo sapiens sapiens is based on the control of the conversion of petroleum to energy in the system. When this collapses the Homo sapiens sapiens society will also collapse into chaos as the elements of culture realign themselves.
Oh. Sorry. I went mildly personal/anthropological for a moment.
This is why I’m addicted to SimCity.
Scott, SimCity works for me, but Civ is what really captured my heart. Resource management and land use combined with Machiavellian politics and the opportunity to rule the world as Supreme Cabana Man. Nala is right – he who controls access to the water, not to mention the fresh towels, controls the universe.
[...] the bigger scheme of things. Should be fun. Chuck posted this on Friday, May 19, 2006 at 7:59 am. It is filed in Cal Bears, Business of Law.   [...]