There is a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science that Tim O’Reilly pointed out in his Twitter stream.  It points to resource over-use by the Maya over the course of a few centuries. This would seem to lend credence to former Seminar speaker Jared Diamond’s collapse theories.

Abstract

Tikal, a major lowland Maya civic-ceremonial center in the heart of the Petén region of Central America, relied heavily on the adjacent lowland rainforest as a resource base for fuel and construction materials. In this study, we analyzed 135 wood samples from timbers used in the construction of all six of the city’s major temples as well as two major palaces to determine which tree species were being exploited and to better understand ancient Maya agroforestry practices during the Late Classic period. We found evidence for a change in preference from the large-growing, upland forest species, Manilkara zapota, to a seasonal wetland species Haematoxylon campechianum in A.D. 741 as well as a decrease in lintel beam widths over time. Though M. zapota later returned as the wood species of choice in A.D. 810, beam widths were found to be significantly smaller. These findings concur with models that hypothesize widespread deforestation during the Late Classic period and indicate a declining forest resource base by the 9th century A.D. Because of the many large timbers available for temple construction in the 8th century, some system of forest conservation is indicated for the ancient Maya prior to the Late Classic period.

Source:

Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume 36, Issue 7, July 2009, Pages 1342-1353

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Long Now Foundation Seminar host and board member Stewart Brand, as well as former Seminar speaker Clay Shirky will be presenting on June 3rd at the US State department in their first mini TED conference. It looks like those of you in the press might be able to get a pass, otherwise it will be posted on the TED site at some point in the future.

update:  The talks were also mentioned on the White House Blog along with a mention of Long Now.

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Bragging about failure rarely gets a professor tenure, or makes a scientist famous.  However it is failure by which we all learn the most from.  The video above where Brian Cox discusses the first failure at the LHC is an excellent example of how interesting failure can be.The benefits of publishing negative or ‘inconsequential’ data has a dotted but successful past.  It was the partially successful results of early HIV drugs that, in combination, gave us the successful HIV cocktail treatments.  It was the baseline data of background CO2 levels from a Hawaiian volcano that gave us the first warnings of how CO2 is linked to Global Warming with the Keeling Curve.  It is the spectacular and catastrophic failure of the Tacoma Narrows bridge that made engineering around constructive resonance the default. I hope somday to create a Museum of Failure, but until then, we have YouTube…

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 Spark radio show has a segment that includes interviews with Brewster Kahle on the Internet Archive, and Ed Burtynski about his idea for 10,000 photography and the Clock of the Long Now.

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Wired magazine has a very good piece this month on what many are calling the American Stonehenge, (though it’s not the only site to receive this moniker). 90 miles east of Atlanta lies a mysterious and controversial monument known as the Georgia Guidestones.

photo via Flickr - Sir Mildred Pierce

In a field north of a small town called Elberton, four 16-foot tall granite slabs stand aligned to the cardinal directions.  They are centered around a central pillar with a fifth piece of granite resting on top.  The full monument is almost 20 feet tall and weighs over 100 tons.  Constructing the monument was no easy feat, even for the experienced granite workers of Elbert County, which calls itself “The Granite Capital of the World.”

In the central column, a hole is drilled that aligns with the North Star (for now, anway).  It also contains a slot that allows viewers to see the Sun’s position as it sets on the equinoxes and solstices.  An opening in the capstone create a beam of sunlight that shines onto the central pillar at noon and indicates the day of the year.

The Guidestones were erected in 1980 with the direction of a man operating (and funding the pricey project) under the pseudonym R. C. Christian.  While their purpose isn’t exactly clear, a tablet set into the ground nearby proclaims,

Let these be guidestones to an Age of Reason.

The Guidestones are covered in inscriptions written in 8 major languages that describe the tenets of their imagined Age of Reason.  They seem to be a prescription for a utopia, albeit, one with limited access - the first tenet reads,

MAINTAIN HUMANITY UNDER 500,000,000
IN PERPETUAL BALANCE WITH NATURE

These tenets (some are calling them commandments) line up pretty closely with what many conspiracy theorists, especially those with a religious bent, imagine to be the plot of either the Antichrist or the New World Order.  Searching online about the Guidestones turns up more conspiracy theory pages than fansites:

The message of the American Stonehenge also foreshadowed the current drive for Sustainable Development. Any time you hear the phrase “Sustainable Development” used, you should substitute the term “socialism” to be able to understand what is intended…Certainly the group that commissioned the Georgia Guidestones is one of many similar groups working together toward a New World Order, a new world economic system, and a new world spirituality. Behind those groups, however, are dark spiritual forces.

The Guidestones were vandalized last winter and, though nobody has yet marshaled the resources to actually do it, calls for their destruction are not uncommon.  Thus far, Elbert County appreciates the controversy’s effect as a tourist draw and probably appreciates the way it highlights their granite industry.

As for the Guidestones’ likelihood to survive, it is interesting to note that the surrounding mystery has been both a help and a hindrance.  By instilling wonder and encouraging curiosity, the secretive creators have generated a good deal of interest in the monument.  They’ve also, however, allowed some blanks to be filled by people offended by the little that is discernible about their agenda.

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Over the weekend I heard a story on NPR that referred to Guinness having a 9,000 year lease on its brewery that started back in the 1700’s.  I made a mental note to look it up when I got home.  No sooner did I get online than I saw a note from Paul Saffo who had already done it:

Arthur Guinness started brewing ales initially in Leixlip, then at the St. James’s Gate Brewery, Dublin, Irelandfrom 1759. He signed (up to) a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum for the unused brewery.

And indeed, here is the reference on the Guinness site:
http://www.diageo.com/en-row/ourbrands/ourglobalbrands/guinness/

And I found this reference in the time line on their product site with an image of the actual signed lease:
http://www2.guinness.com//en-US/Pages/thestory.aspx#y1759

Thanks Paul!

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It has been half a year since the financial meltdown began in earnest, and everyone from Senators, to CEOs, to suffering homeowners is suffering from crisis fatigue. We face myriad perils ahead as we navigate our way out of this vast mess, but the greatest peril of all comes from our frightening adaptability. What still seemed shocking in January is quickly becoming the New Normal.

And with the New Normal comes a dangerous resignation to the facts of the current crisis, and an even more dangerous return to the reckless, shortsighted habits that led us into the meltdown. Investors looking for a quick kill in a fibrillating stock market, or speculating on precious metals in hopes it will be the next big thing. Insolvent homeowners passively hoping for a miracle, and bankers unwilling to modify loans because doing so might make their short-term numbers look bad. And worst of all, politicians falling back on tired old partisan habits, furiously pointing fingers at anyone who dares to cross doctrinal lines in search of common solutions.

As Walt Kelly’s swamp philosopher, Pogo observed on the second Earth Day 38 years ago today, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” The enemy is our belief in the quick fix for problems that have grown over decades. The enemy is old behaviors, old animosities, old rivalries, and false certainties that blind us to the need for new solutions to the challenges we face.

The myth is that Pogo observed in the next frame that we are “surrounded by insurmountable opportunity.” Perhaps Walt never actually drew that frame, but even if Pogo didn’t say it, he should have, for we are surrounded by opportunity that is insurmountable only if we allow the New Normal to cloud our vision. We got into this mess because we created a society that sacrificed the long-term good for the many on the altar of short-term profits for the few. If we can just shake off the illusion of the quick fix, we may discover that more than the current financial crisis can be surmounted for the benefit of ourselves, our children, and our children’s children.

(Copyright restrictions prohibit the display of Walt Kelly’s famous image of Pogo uttering, “We have met the enemy and he is us” on this page, but you can see it here)

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 The Washington Post is carrying an interesting story on the recently completed cow genome: “Cow’s DNA Sequence Reveals Mankind’s Influence Over Last 10,000 Years.” Most interesting is what was learned by looking closely at such a domesticated beast.  The scientists were able to clearly see where selective breeding has radically changed the animal that we now recognize as a cow.  And did I mention that the name of the cow is Dominette, how great is that?

Hidden in her [the cow below named L1 Dominette 01449] roughly 22,000 genes are hints of how natural selection sculpted the bovine body and personality over the last 60 million years, and how man greatly enhanced the job over the last 10,000.

This undated handout photo provided by the Agriculture Department shows a Hereford cow, named L1 Dominette 01449, with her calf on the rangeland of the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s Livestock and Range Research Laboratory in Miles City, Montana. (AP Photo/Michael MacNeil, Agriculture Department)

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Stewart Brand will be speaking about Rethinking Green: How Can Information Replace Energy and Finesse the Biosphere? on Monday March 16, 02009 from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm.

This lecture is part of the Berkeley Center for New Media’s Art, Culture and Technology Colloquium.

This lecture is free, un-ticketed and seats are available on a first come first serve basis. Here is the location of the 250 seat Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center on the U.C. Berkeley campus.

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Long Now Member Michael C. sent word about a great book review on the Atlantic’s Editor’s Choice for December.  The book is Europe Between the Oceans by Barry Cunliffe, and it recounts 10,000 years of European history starting in 9,000 BC.

I can’t think of a better gift this year for the historically minded reader. No book so well exemplifies what Cunliffe joyously calls “the vibrancy of archaeology.” More important, its focus on what Braudel called the longue durée will jolt the temporally complacent (and aren’t we all?), just as its bracingly materialist approach—which leads to the inescapable conclusion that trade has always laid the foundation for the exchange of ideas and beliefs, indeed for most cultural transformations—nicely tempers our blather about the power of ideas and the individual.

Tyler Cowen liked it, too.  Pick it up in all it’s deca-millenial glory.

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