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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!!

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To: E who wrote (33226)	3/24/1999 2:06:00 AM
From: nihil	Read Replies (1) of 108807

Inuit mechanics --- don't surprise me at all. They are said to be excellent snow-mobile and motorboat mechanics -- and reliable motor work really matters where most of them live. The key, I suspect, is the discipline that is required even to exist in those places that they live. One of the most critical things in motor rebuilding is maintaining the order of reassambly (hence remembering the order of disassembly). The other is patience. One of the most remarkable factories I have ever seen was a fertilizer factory in Thailand build from bits and pieces from junk by one western trained entomologist and one largely self-trained welder. Not only was the machinery home made but the potash and phosphate was prospected and shipped from domestic supplies that the government didn't really know about. I recall a Thai backyard mechanic disassembling a Massey-Ferguson tractor and rebuilding the transmission (even building up worn gears by welding or brazing.) It was all laid out on straw mats (during the dry season) he didn't even have roof, not to mention a manual. Yet I have read in neuroscience (wish I could find the reference), that the human brain "contains" sets of schemata of animals and tools that are inherited not learned. I don't know if boys have hunting tools and girls planting and cooking tools. I suspect that Inuit (and everyone else) retains these mechanical aptitudes built in for many generations despite disuse. The diffusion and reinvention of tools and weapons throughout mankind's history may represent this retention of experience (sounds heretical I know). Doubtless the early tool-makers and dog owners had an enormous survival advantage over other tribes that were not so skilled.

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