[Nettime-bold] LANGUAGE AND NATURE

[Tom Sherman <twsherma@mailbox.syr.edu>]

     IT'S HARD TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH NATURE BECAUSE NATURE DOESN'T
TALK BACK.  We've always dreamed of speaking Nature's own language, of
being part of the big picture.  But when we talk to Nature, we find we are
just talking to ourselves, or more accurately, to each other.  Just like
the birds singing in the darkness before dawn, they're not singing for us,
they're singing to the other birds.  When we look into a sky or a mountain
or at a tree's mighty bough, when we speak directly to Nature, we're
talking to ourselves.  We shouldn't expect a reply.  Nature has nothing to
say to us.  It stands mute, ignoring us.  This is simply the way it is.  
This is particularly rough on people from the city.  They get really
lonely and they want to talk to Nature.  They want to tell Nature how they
feel, about the people they know.  Nature isn't interested.  Nature
doesn't care.  Nature is a tough audience.  It'll listen to anything you
want to say and then there'll be nothing but silence.  Unless you learn to
read the signs.  If you want to hear what Nature has to say, then you've
got to learn to read the signs.  Nature speaks through sign language.  
Once you crack the code, you'll find that Nature has a lot to say.  Not
that Nature makes sense.  It doesn't.  It never says what you want it to
say.  It never responds to us.  Talking to Nature is easy, making sense of
Nature's signs is another matter.  Nature can be very frustrating,
especially for city people.

     IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL A STORY TO NATURE IN A LANGUAGE IT WILL
UNDERSTAND.  It's funny how uptight people are about telling stories about
animals and plants and rocks and rivers and shooting stars.  Every time
people start to tell a story about Nature, someone is ready to jump all
over them for being anthropomorphic.  That means they are guilty of
attributing human qualities to creatures or things that are not human.  
This is done most frequently through the convention of the voice-over.  
Human thoughts and voices are inserted into the minds and mouths of other
species.  This seems to be particularly offensive when it is done to
entertain.  It doesn't matter that squirrels really act like cartoon
characters.  It doesn't matter that all babies are cute or that all young
adults fight over sexual partners and territory.  But if you dare put
human qualities on animals, a lot of people will think it's awful and
condemn you for doing so.  The defenders of anthropomorphism say people
have trouble relating to Nature without making it like themselves.  They
say if we can't make Nature like ourselves, we won't be able to relate to
Nature at all.  And that's tragic.  People often feel alienated from
Nature. There's a problem with stories that don't feature much human
interest.  How can you tell an interesting story about a spider and a rock
or about a rock and another rock?  It's hard to get hooked on rocks or
spiders unless you give them something to say or do that you can relate
to.  Or you could just keep your mouth shut.  If you keep your
anthropomorphic stories to yourself, who's going to know?  One thing for
sure, Nature won't care.


from NATURE IS PERVERSE SOMETIMES (version 1.0)

Tom Sherman


_______________________________________________
Nettime-bold mailing list
Nettime-bold@nettime.org
http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold