Generations Enough & Time: Deep Past, Tiny Chances & Human Myopia
Location
Wedgewood Conference Center, Room 4094
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
23-9-2014 11:00 AM
Description
Since the Enlightenment, scientific inquiry has shown that the immensities of time and space are greater than human comprehension or anticipation. The scientific method has allowed us to put numbers and measures on extreme quantities, whether long distances, geological or even cosmological time, or minute probabilities — but we humans have no natural intuition for these extremes, and so they tend to either drift in one ear and out the other, or be actively rejected as failing a “common sense” test. Our brains nonetheless continue to exceed the grasp of our senses, with transmission of culture and knowledge laterally across societies and vertically to new generations — that knowledge itself accumulating at a pace which we can hardly grasp. How does human “myopia” with respect to deep time and large numbers limit our understanding of the processes which underlie systemic change, such as we observe in evolution or markets? The talk will explore this question from biological and economic perspectives, with illustrations from literature, that (so far) uniquely human response to our lived experience.
Recommended Citation
Niedzwiecki, John, "Generations Enough & Time: Deep Past, Tiny Chances & Human Myopia" (2014). Humanities Symposium. 28.
https://repository.belmont.edu/humanities_symposium/2014/2014/28
Generations Enough & Time: Deep Past, Tiny Chances & Human Myopia
Wedgewood Conference Center, Room 4094
Since the Enlightenment, scientific inquiry has shown that the immensities of time and space are greater than human comprehension or anticipation. The scientific method has allowed us to put numbers and measures on extreme quantities, whether long distances, geological or even cosmological time, or minute probabilities — but we humans have no natural intuition for these extremes, and so they tend to either drift in one ear and out the other, or be actively rejected as failing a “common sense” test. Our brains nonetheless continue to exceed the grasp of our senses, with transmission of culture and knowledge laterally across societies and vertically to new generations — that knowledge itself accumulating at a pace which we can hardly grasp. How does human “myopia” with respect to deep time and large numbers limit our understanding of the processes which underlie systemic change, such as we observe in evolution or markets? The talk will explore this question from biological and economic perspectives, with illustrations from literature, that (so far) uniquely human response to our lived experience.
Comments
Convocation Credit: Academic Lecture