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To
read the full hiking blog, go to The
Ruins in Bright Angel Wash |
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So, following my presentation at the 3rd Grand Canyon History Symposium this past month, John Stark, manager of the local public radio station KNAU, asked me about the importance of history - i.e., what this symposium is all about. My answer was, "It's not important." Got your attention? It may seem a bit suspect, and, of course, totally politically incorrect. After all, there is Santayana's well-known phrase about how those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Or, my favorite version comes from John Brunner's book, Stand on Zanzibar, that the only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history. So, how can I assert that history isn't important?
Well, it just isn't. It is a consumption good and I like it just
like I like shrimp scampi. Umm . . . I could really go for some
right now! Anyway, the point is that we "do" history
because it interests us, just like all the other things we do.
These activities aren't, per se, important. Not like meeting the
basic needs of providing food, clothing and shelter. My
presentation was on the Charles D. Walcott expedition in the Grand
Canyon over the winter of 1882-1883, about which very little has been
written. I find it fascinating, and you can hear me say so in
Stark's interview
for KNAU (click on
I have encountered this before. I remember watching an archeologist
on the local cable channel doing a presentation on some dig sites
around Flagstaff. He was remarking about how his research was
helping to "answer important questions" about the ancient Indeed, this past week I have been watching a show that details what the filmmakers call the top ten discoveries of ancient Egypt. Absolutely fascinating, from Khufu's ship found next to the big pyramid at Giza to the huge statues built into the cliffs guarding the temple at Abu Simbel. But, are they "important?" Of course not. Well, that is, they aren't important unless Stargate is real! Then, of course, all bets are off. So, this brings me to something of a epiphany - that's probably an overstatement, so whatever word can be used that would mean a "small epiphany" will suffice. Of late, I have developed an avid interest in the so-called Austrian School of Economics, as manifest by Ludwig von Mises, et al., and I spend a lot of time perusing the Mises.org web site. I have taken 6 or 7 on-line classes through them and have started to read some of the major works that are associated with this school of thought. I haven't yet read Mises' Human Action, but it has come up in a number of classes. As I understand Mises' perspective, he argues that we can learn about the way the world works through the use of our rational faculties (starting with the axiom that human action is purposeful) and we don't need to resort to anything else. That is, while there may be "lessons from history," we don't need history in order to learn these lessons. Of course! I thought so. |
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has
improved over the last ten days or so. We've had temps in the
50s in Flagstaff and
I have been jumping back into some serious efforts to get into
shape. A few days earlier than this hike I went up to the top of
Mt. Elden, here in Flagstaff, which is just a tick under 9,300 feet in
elevation (from 7,000 foot Flagstaff). It felt good and the
trail was fine. So, I decided to do a hike down the Bright Angel
trail. I knew that the trail would be icy, and I was not
disappointed. But, I also knew that it would be a nice warm day
down in the canyon and that there wouldn't be too many folks on the
trail.
