On the shoulder of giants – Zeno's paradox revisited

The image has it clear. Standing on the shoulders of giants we can see further, even tho we are shorter than them.

It worked for Newton, and for humanity, for a few years. But as we stand on the shoulders of more and more people, we become smaller and smaller. So small, that nowadays to get a phd it's more than enough to do just a little little bit, in someone nobody else cares, and keep on it for 4 years. Done.

Western world, and it's Faustian desire for more, always more, and always new, has made us midgets. Not that midgets are not cool, in fact I dig Bilbo's house.

So we are there again, back to Greece, and Zeno tries to convince us that movement is not possible. If I trow an arrow, it will move half of the way on a certain amount of time, then half of what is left, then the half of it, ad infinitum, never reaching its goal. So we are.

Crafts, on the other hand, (and this will be a formal device I will keep on using on the future for I think that the dominance of the intellect over hand work is one of the reasons we are so fucked up as world) do not stand on the work of other, but sit on the table to with them and share some food, perhaps a beer, and talk about the different ways of doing something. How to cut that mortise, or how to design that profile.

Each time you cut the wood for your table, you repeat the work of your forefathers, not to look further, but to look closer, closer to your life. To make of the world a place you not only understand the workings of (otherwise you could not build a table), but to furnish your home.  The sense of what you are doing is different.

Julia needs the computer so I just leave you with some pictures from the book "Deusches Holzarchitectur" (or something like that). Leave a comment if you want the pdf.