ANTH222 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Arquebus, Golden Rule, Lumber
25 Oct 2018
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Emblematic vs. assertive: emblems are about the nation, and the nation is an ethnic group, every piece of technology you use is emblematic of your nation. This is how archeologists: assertive is about how you assert your own personhood, all of us are biological individuals. But by growing up, we turn into persons. Characteristics of artifacts help identify what culture they belong to: many ways to do anything technological, we tend to think there"s one best way, but it"s not that simple. There are multiple ways of doing the same function. Golden rule of technology: the more you know about your environment, the simpler your technology can be. Silver rule: the first example of a new, superior technology will always be outcompeted by the last generation of older, inferior technology, crossbow is better than the harquebus. The very first harquebuses were outcompeted by crossbows.
