The Science of Investigation

Wayne Constantineau, Eric Mcluhan

Description

The second of five books in the groundbreaking new series The Human Equation Toolkit.

In Book 1 of The Human Equation Toolkit series, mime Wayne Constantineau and scholar Eric McLuhan explore the four positions of humans -- standing, lying down, sitting, and kneeling -- as the basis of all developments in culture, science, activity, and media. Now, in Book 2 of the series, they "do the math," giving us a generic equation for reconciling pairs of opposites by emphasizing differences, and for unifying diverse elements by stressing sameness -- creating a tool for investigating and transcending human development.

Sujets

• Popular culture
• Standing
• Positions
• Human development
• IDeaS
• Kneeling
• Scholarly method
• Eric McLuhan
• Sitting
• Stand
• Theory
• Technology
• Relationship
• Language
• Development
• Human
• Relations
• Technologie
• Technical
• Mime
• IDEA
• Théorie
• Culture
• Media

Informations

• Publié par: BPS Books
• Date de parution: 23 juillet 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781927483336
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

T HE S CIENCE OF I NVESTIGATION
The Science of Investigation is Book 2 in The Human Equation Toolkit, a series of books and other materials flowing from the life and work of mime and scholar Wayne Constantineau, and the work of Eric McLuhan. (Please see Publisher s Note at the end of this book.)
T HE S CIENCE OF I NVESTIGATION
Working with Equations
Book 2
The Human Equation Toolkit
Wayne Constantineau
and
Eric McLuhan
Illustrations by Heidi Overhill
Text 2012 by Eric McLuhan and Heidi Overhill.
Illustrations p. 6 from The Book of Knowledge: The Children s Encyclopaedia . New York: The Grolier Society, 1918.
All rights reserved. No translation or reproduction in any form is permitted without the written consent of the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-926645-50-6
Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available from Library and Archives Canada.
Published in 2012 by
BPS Books
Toronto and New York
bpsbooks.com
A division of
Bastian Publishing Services Ltd.
Dedication
Scholar and mime Wayne Constantineau faced his imminent death with grace and fortitude in the summer of 2006, with a small team of supporters gathered around him. Many were close friends of many years, past collaborators in his varied adventures. Dennis and Dianne Hayes provided the central care and comfort that made it possible for Wayne to stay out of hospital in his last months. Others brought cameras, or computers, to help bring his life s work to fruition in the form of this series of small books and other media. Others gave of their time and skills. This task, which remained only partly finished at his death, is now finding expression through this creation of The Human Equation Toolkit. This work represents, I feel, an important development of the living legacy of media studies left by my father, Marshall McLuhan. I am proud to have been able to complete the writing of this book and the rest of the series.
Eric McLuhan
Prince Edward County, Ontario
Table of Contents
Preface to Book 2
Acknowledgment
Introduction
Part 1
1 / The Generic Equation
2 / Roots of the Equation
3 / The Equation Squared
4 / The Math of the Equation
5 / What We Can Uncover in an Equation
Part 2
6 / Configuring an Equation
Appendix 1 / Comparing Pairs: Cross Patterns
Appendix 2 / Full Sets of Frequent Attributes of Modes of Action
Publisher s Note
Preface to Book 2
Everything we make or do is processed via one or another of our four modes of action. Everything. Such was the theme of Book 1 in this set. It introduced the four modes of action and the four postures, and explored various examples of the process. It also looked at using the equation as a kind of probe, to make things or situations reveal themselves, and as a means of prediction. Some of these matters are reprised in our Introduction, below.
The present book delves into the equation, that curiously harmonic set of relations between the modes of action (and between the postures). The equation has various other patterns than the simple one described in the first book, and this book shows how it can be reconfigured to adapt to special circumstances and needs.
Book 3, to come, explores how the bodily senses relate to the modes of action and to the postures of the body and the mind. It provides exercises designed to limber up the senses, restore play, and sharpen acuity in all areas.
Book 2 takes the Human Equation to a new level of operation, one that multiplies its applications.
Eric McLuhan
Prince Edward County, Ontario
Acknowledgment
The authors wish to express their gratitude to Henry Rodrigues and Ned Insurance for their generous financial assistance, which made it possible to publish this book.

Learning has been divided into provinces and distributed among the nobility of letters. Each part flouts its independence in the face of the broader claims of universal interdependence. If the hands and feet of man, for example, were as irreconcilable in their functions as the members of the body educational, concerted action would be impossible. So long as science, religion and philosophy find no common ground, human efforts can never be coordinated to the perfection of the race.
-Charles Singer
Change is our only constant.
Fixity is our only variable.
-Wayne Constantineau
Introduction
The human organism uses only four basic postures. Check this for yourself. You can stand, lie, sit, or kneel. The complete set of four exhibits an inner balance, or harmony, such that the relation between two of the elements echoes the relation between the other two: expressed A is to B as C is to D. In the case of the postures, the relationships can be seen visually in ninety-degree flips.
Lying down is standing flipped ninety degrees.

Squatting is kneeling flipped ninety degrees.

So A is to B as C is to D:

Posture is one corner of a larger picture. The human organism has exactly four modes of action. You can contract your muscles isometrically. You can displace (move, walk, roll, etc.). You can articulate (bend fingers, arm, etc.). You can assume a posture. With these, we do everything. The postures and modes of action are in use every moment of our life. This set of four also exhibits that inner harmony, as do all four corners of our modes of being.
This Is the Human Equation
All of our media imitate us; that is, they share the features of our modes of action-or we would not be able to use them. We created our media to be used by our modes of action.