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kjpepperI sort of want to start a goth band, simply because "Von Hagens and the Plastinates" would be an awesome name.
Seriously, for the past few weeks Phil (our lovely and very chatty local bus driver) has been talking non stop about going to see Von Hagens and the Plastinates. For those of you that haven't heard of them or the traveling exhibit Body Worlds (not to be confused with the long defunct Disney World attraction) Von Hagens is this German anatomist that figured out a way of essentially making human tissue into plastic. He's been touring with a science/art exhibit that features plastinated cadavers in poses and states of so that you can see muscle and organ structure and stuff. On the side he also does live autopsies while wearing a black fedora. Seriously, go look up Gunther Von Hagens on google image search. I tell ya, the things Germans do for fun.
Seriously though, Body Worlds is in its last two weeks at the Boston Museum of Science, and would i had transportation, I'd totally go, especially since I missed it in NY over the summer. Especially since Phil actually got to go last week and it seemed to be everything he hoped it would be. (that and I want one of the "Hearts are made to be broken" shirts they're allegedly selling - how goth!) It does have me thinking, though, about the sacred, taboos, and the lines people set up around such concepts. There are some - well okay a lot - that are vehemently against this exhibit and what Van Hagens is trying to do, which in a lot of ways is completely understandable considering the the way that humanity as a whole tends to view and treat death. Especially those of us with any sort of religion. Honestly the idea of cadavers on parade makes me a bit squicky as well, but since I also find anatomy rather fascinating I want to see it anyway.
But yeah, this led to a general think on science vs spirituality, and the balance between the two and how they've clashed over the centuries, and still are... There are the obvious examples, like the current Creationism vs Evolution debate (and in some places all out war) going on in this country, not to mention the battles over stem cell research, but then you think about instances where the progress of science was all out halted by religion... The entire Dark Ages. The Church vs Galileo. People are looking back as far as pre-JudeoChristianity, theorizing that the formation of written language was the true death knell of ancient Earth based religion. (Reminds me, I need to actually read The Alphabet vs the Goddess at some point.) And to be absulutely fair, it's not all them wacky crazy Christians either... I recently heard an argument from a Pagan about how lunar explanation was wrong because the moon was sacred and thus should be left alone.
The ongoing debate is especially interesting as I'm slowly listing towards rediscovering my own spiritual path and mean to make a concentrated effort towards reincorporating some form of religion back into my life next year. I honestly don't get what the whole big struggle is. To quote one of my favorite movies... the creation of the earth "is the same miracle whether it took six days or many centuries." The monthly lunar cycle upon which many aspects of Paganism would still continue even in the eventuality of human settlement. I'm still of the opinion that magic(k) can be defined as anything that science hasn't figured out how to explain yet, but I don't see how coming up with a rational, empirical explanation for natural phenomena interferes with the fact that all of this and how it works makes it any less wonderful. I mean, here it is, here we are. Does it really matter if we developed into this state over millenia or were plopped here by some outside intelligent force? Doesn't make the fact that there are three tiny bones in your ear that transmit vibration to your brain any less fascinating. But I suppose that's an entirely other debate.
I guess the true sticky part is not so much the explanations but the ethics behind how the resulting knowledge is used, and unfortunately those can vary wildly. I guess my own take on that there should be more of a PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION policy when we start messing with stuff we don't fully understand in terms of their long term impact upon ourselves and our surroundings. It's like perfoming surgery with a knowledge of high school level anatomy because it's cheaper to train folk only that far. I guess my problem is when science is carried out and often rushed to make a few folk rich. Then you get more money being funnelled into things like cures for erectile dysfunction rather than, say cures for AIDS. I don't want to think about the amount of money that Pfizer has made off of old men wanting to recapture their 20s. Ick. And the lobby power behind practically every single decision the FDA makes scares me. None of those decisions are made with the intention of making sure food, drugs and the process of making either of them are safe and ethical. It's all about who has the money to influence said decision... so we get things like e. coli in our veggies, Phen-fen, the replacement of sugar with HFCS in most processed food, and other fun things that definitely have an adverse effect on the population and a positive effect on a select few bank accounts.
But I think I was originally talking about plastinated corpses... *gets off soapbox that seems to have magically appeared under feet* Anyone heading out Boston way from here between now and the 7th?
BTW, since I've been sort of erratic in posting... A joyous Yule and Christmas to everyone reading this. We've survived the dark, let's welcome back the light. :)
Seriously, for the past few weeks Phil (our lovely and very chatty local bus driver) has been talking non stop about going to see Von Hagens and the Plastinates. For those of you that haven't heard of them or the traveling exhibit Body Worlds (not to be confused with the long defunct Disney World attraction) Von Hagens is this German anatomist that figured out a way of essentially making human tissue into plastic. He's been touring with a science/art exhibit that features plastinated cadavers in poses and states of so that you can see muscle and organ structure and stuff. On the side he also does live autopsies while wearing a black fedora. Seriously, go look up Gunther Von Hagens on google image search. I tell ya, the things Germans do for fun.
Seriously though, Body Worlds is in its last two weeks at the Boston Museum of Science, and would i had transportation, I'd totally go, especially since I missed it in NY over the summer. Especially since Phil actually got to go last week and it seemed to be everything he hoped it would be. (that and I want one of the "Hearts are made to be broken" shirts they're allegedly selling - how goth!) It does have me thinking, though, about the sacred, taboos, and the lines people set up around such concepts. There are some - well okay a lot - that are vehemently against this exhibit and what Van Hagens is trying to do, which in a lot of ways is completely understandable considering the the way that humanity as a whole tends to view and treat death. Especially those of us with any sort of religion. Honestly the idea of cadavers on parade makes me a bit squicky as well, but since I also find anatomy rather fascinating I want to see it anyway.
But yeah, this led to a general think on science vs spirituality, and the balance between the two and how they've clashed over the centuries, and still are... There are the obvious examples, like the current Creationism vs Evolution debate (and in some places all out war) going on in this country, not to mention the battles over stem cell research, but then you think about instances where the progress of science was all out halted by religion... The entire Dark Ages. The Church vs Galileo. People are looking back as far as pre-JudeoChristianity, theorizing that the formation of written language was the true death knell of ancient Earth based religion. (Reminds me, I need to actually read The Alphabet vs the Goddess at some point.) And to be absulutely fair, it's not all them wacky crazy Christians either... I recently heard an argument from a Pagan about how lunar explanation was wrong because the moon was sacred and thus should be left alone.
The ongoing debate is especially interesting as I'm slowly listing towards rediscovering my own spiritual path and mean to make a concentrated effort towards reincorporating some form of religion back into my life next year. I honestly don't get what the whole big struggle is. To quote one of my favorite movies... the creation of the earth "is the same miracle whether it took six days or many centuries." The monthly lunar cycle upon which many aspects of Paganism would still continue even in the eventuality of human settlement. I'm still of the opinion that magic(k) can be defined as anything that science hasn't figured out how to explain yet, but I don't see how coming up with a rational, empirical explanation for natural phenomena interferes with the fact that all of this and how it works makes it any less wonderful. I mean, here it is, here we are. Does it really matter if we developed into this state over millenia or were plopped here by some outside intelligent force? Doesn't make the fact that there are three tiny bones in your ear that transmit vibration to your brain any less fascinating. But I suppose that's an entirely other debate.
I guess the true sticky part is not so much the explanations but the ethics behind how the resulting knowledge is used, and unfortunately those can vary wildly. I guess my own take on that there should be more of a PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION policy when we start messing with stuff we don't fully understand in terms of their long term impact upon ourselves and our surroundings. It's like perfoming surgery with a knowledge of high school level anatomy because it's cheaper to train folk only that far. I guess my problem is when science is carried out and often rushed to make a few folk rich. Then you get more money being funnelled into things like cures for erectile dysfunction rather than, say cures for AIDS. I don't want to think about the amount of money that Pfizer has made off of old men wanting to recapture their 20s. Ick. And the lobby power behind practically every single decision the FDA makes scares me. None of those decisions are made with the intention of making sure food, drugs and the process of making either of them are safe and ethical. It's all about who has the money to influence said decision... so we get things like e. coli in our veggies, Phen-fen, the replacement of sugar with HFCS in most processed food, and other fun things that definitely have an adverse effect on the population and a positive effect on a select few bank accounts.
But I think I was originally talking about plastinated corpses... *gets off soapbox that seems to have magically appeared under feet* Anyone heading out Boston way from here between now and the 7th?
BTW, since I've been sort of erratic in posting... A joyous Yule and Christmas to everyone reading this. We've survived the dark, let's welcome back the light. :)
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Date: 2006-12-22 03:57 pm (UTC)Happy Holidays, sweetie. *hugs*
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