In the valley of the blind, the
one-eyed man is king.
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Old Indians The following is
only opinion: A stereotype of Native Americans was their ability
to live in "harmony with nature." However, from a technology perspective,
that metaphor may be misleading. Prior to the European invasion, and the resulting
genocide of Native Americans, the typical Native American had an average
lifespan of about 45 years. Unlike Europeans where a common cause of
death was disease and warfare, the major reason for the short Native American
life span was not disease or warfare, but "technical
self-destruction." Pre-European Native Americans not only lacked much
of the technology that we take for granted, other than fire and the lever
they lacked common European and Asian technology tools such as metal
implements or the wheel. Because they lacked horses, they transported
their goods on their backs, on the backs of dogs, or by carrying them on a
primitive travois dragged behind a person or dog. While some
tribes had written languages, most communication and history transmission was
oral. They did have the ability to harvest wild grain
(maize) and used flour from that grain to bake bread. Native Americans
typically produced flour by grinding the grain between two flat rocks,
however, the process of grinding that flour also baked sand ground from those
rocks into the bread. Typically, by the time Native Americans were in
their early to mid-40's that sand had their worn down teeth to the point that
they could not effectively chew food. As a result, pre-European Native
Americans typically died by age 45, not from disease or warfare as did their
European counter-parts, but from starvation caused by their inability to
chew. Lacking the understanding as to what was causing teeth to be worn
down, it was assumed by Native Americans that "old age" and death
from starvation were synonymous. "Old Indians" were expected
to wither and die. Our Technology Dependent Society assumes that vision
and comprehension loss are synonymous with "old age," but comprehension is
subjective, and hopefully our brains still function with "old
age." What changes the most with age is the ability of our eyes to
provide a clear, undistorted image. It is likely, and unfortunate, that
because many Optometrists and Ophthalmologists retire at about age 55, it is
assumed to be normal for people past age 55 to lose much of their reading
comprehension skills. As a result, our Technology Dependent Society tends
to treat "old readers" much like Native Americans treated "old
Indians" in expecting that "old readers" are mentally
supposed to wither and die. What many
"old readers" are really suffering from, however, is the Induced
Dyslexia caused by their inappropriate glasses. The problem is with
their vision, not their mind. |