Claude dit:
The greater our knowledge, the more obscure the overall scheme. The dimensions multiply, and the growth of axes of reference beyond a certain point paralyzes intuitive methods: it becomes impossible to visualize a system when its representation requires a continuum of more than three or four dimensions. But the day may come when all the available documentation on Australian tribes is transferred to punched cards and with the help of a computer their entire techno-economic, social and religious structures can be shown to be like a vast group of transformations.
The Savage Mind, p. 89
Christopher Kelty does anthropological and historical research on science and technology, free and open source software, intellectual property and open access, the history of software, and the ethics and politics of nanotechnology. He also teaches classes about all of these things. From 2001 to 2008 he was assistant professor of anthropology at Rice University, in Houston, TX. He know teaches at UCLA and splits his time between the Information Studies department, the Anthropology Department and the Center for Society and Genetics.
To which I say: Bah! Hrafbug!
Report this comment
The ‘punch card computing’ moments are among my favorite.
Report this comment
‘The old database’ as one of my linguistics instructors used to say. I wonder how far Lévi-Strauss took this project, and whether anyone has pursued it with MS Access or FileMaker Pro?
Report this comment
Guys, get your math straight. If L-S vision were brought to a computer near you, it wouldn’t look anything like HRAF or be easy to do in Access or Filemaker. What would it look like? Imagine a multidimensional manifold that reveals different aspects when rotated on one or more dimensions. For a sense of what this might look like, check out
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/garrett_lisi_on_his_theory_of_everything.html
Report this comment
garrett lisi is so totally levi-strauss’s lovechild.
Report this comment