Arnica and Eyebright: Stephen Jay Gould - portrait/interview, 1984 (part 4 of 6)

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Stephen Jay Gould - portrait/interview, 1984 (part 4 of 6)

I was thinking about Howard Gardner's eighth intelligence, that is, naturalistic intelligence. Who exemplifies this more than Stephen Jay Gould with his panda's thumbs, dinosaurs in haystacks? When I read Mismeasure of Man I think I hear Kurt Vonnegut...Unfortunately, his wittiness endears his writing to the layman more than his peers. I receive the same reception when I mention that I like
Jared Diamond...that at least the poor benighted populace is reading about science, but they will never get through the front door to the evolutionary biologists.

2 comments:

Σφιγξ said...: I do, hear Vonnegut, who composed a thesis for his Master's degree at the University of Chicago contending that the American Apache predated, and may have informed, the Cubist movement of Europe. Cat's Cradle's public success actually swayed the Anthropology department to confer the degree.; June 18, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Σφιγξ said...: https://thesecondprinciple.com/optimal-learning/naturalistic-intelligence/; September 26, 2023 at 11:58 AM

Never miss a word

You're Infinite Jest!
by David Foster Wallace
While you¹ consider yourself² to be clever, there are those³ who think you're just full of yourself or, perhaps worse, playing a joke⁴ on everyone around you, and yet you are pretty sure that you really are that brilliant after all, since people would hardly take the time to get to know you⁵ if they didn't care very deeply about what you had to say to them, to wit, about their lives, their hopes, their dreams, their fears, their drug habits, and of course what videos⁶ they prefer to watch, since, after all, your impressive vocabulary and tendency to go on and on⁷ makes you seem superior, able to educate them, and really drive a sense of something ineffable into their measly little skulls while you are not above making a cheap gag or really going after anyone or anything or telling them about incredible futures involving tennis, geopolitics, and
¹Meaning you personally, not someone like you or your own personal daddy, for example.
²As well as you can see yourself, which, frankly, may not be that well.
³Though we wouldn't deign to be so peripatetic as to name them here, mind.
⁴Jokes, though not common in Victorian England, were known to originate sometime in ancient history, perhaps as early as the time of Babylon, or even before. It is thought that the history of the joke plays an integral role in the mindset of the characters depicted here, though you may disagree at this point, in which case I am facing quite the dilemma in relaying this narrative, no?
⁵It is rather time consuming, after all.
⁶Ha!
⁷and on and on and on...
Take the Book Quiz II at the Blue Pyramid.

You're The Metamorphosis!
by Franz Kafka
Though you think you're in the midst of a dream, the fact of the matter is that your life has become a nightmare. The nightmare at first seems horrific to you, but you are slowly able to adjust to the facts of the matter and settle down and make do with what you've been given. There are those that would say you're pointless and absurd, but you're really just trying to demonstrate that people can (and do) adapt to anything, no matter how absurd it is. Not that this will really inspire them to change, because they probably don't understand.
Take the Book Quiz II at the Blue Pyramid.

Arnica and Eyebright

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Stephen Jay Gould - portrait/interview, 1984 (part 4 of 6)

2 comments:

"[...]a vessel cleaving the dungeon of the waves[...]"

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