The chart above is a screen capture from this BBC website, which allows you to calculate your approximate place in humanity’s march based on your birthdate. According to the supplementary explanation,

Both numbers have been calculated using UN Population Division figures. The first is an estimate of how many people were alive on your date of birth. It is one possible value based on global population figures and estimates of growth rates over time. Data before 1950 is less accurate than figures after that date. The second number includes calculations based on the methodology of scholar Carl Haub, who estimated how many people had been alive since 50,000 B.C. His calculation has been amended by the UN to include additional points in time.

What I find intriguing is that the population of the earth was estimated at being relatively stable between 1500 and 1750, at a level of 500,000,000 people. Naturally there is no way to empirically verify population figures for that time period, but this was the best shot based on Haub’s calculations (see the link above).

Five hundred million is a number that sticks in my mind – it’s the first declaration of the Georgia Guidestones:

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.

The English face of the stones.

The stones showing the English and Russian faces.^[1]

If you’ve never explored this arcane bit of Americana, it might be worth your while just to learn about them. Erected in June of 1979 by an unknown individual working under the name of R.C. Christian, the stones offer ten suggestions for the success of humanity:

• Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
• Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
• Unite humanity with a living new language.
• Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
• Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
• Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
• Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
• Balance personal rights with social duties.
• Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
• Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

While these are evidently the ideas of a single individual or perhaps a like-minded group, there is nothing in here that I could remotely take issue with. I especially like the idea of avoiding “petty laws and useless officials.” Naturally, no one advocates culling 93% of the world’s population, but it seems like a reasonable number to allow the Earth to regenerate its resources faster than they are consumed. At the rate we’re going, humanity will collapse under the weight of its burgeoning numbers before technology is developed sufficiently to sail in and save us all. It gives one pause.

Like Kryptos, another conundrum erected for the amusement and edification of mankind, someday we may know the full story behind the Georgia guidestones… but perhaps we won’t. Whatever the case, I think they stand as an interesting monument to one man’s desire to build a better world.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

[1] One can see that the stones have been defaced by vandals, and then cleaned as well as possible. The Russian stone says “хуи вам мы хотим жить,” which appears to mean “You dicks, we want to live.” This, more than anything, stands as silent witness to the fact that we could certainly do without certain members of society. While everyone has a right to live, it is clear that as population increases, the percentage of people who fall into the edges of the bell curve increase proportionately as well.

The above bell curve is generic, and could be applied to just about any trait of society – intelligence, political spectrum, or whatnot. If we label the graph “humanity,” in the sense of how apt a person is to desire a world that works for everyone rather than just themselves, we can see that the number of jerks we have to deal with increases proportionately. Our schools would do well to balance academic education with social education.

Saw this over at Aewl’s journal and had to share, because it’s funny… but it also brings up some serious issues.

Piggybacking on my previous post about Shopping Strategies, no one in their right mind would dispute that men and women are wired differently. John Gray has made gozillions of dollars touting that fact, and others before him. Yet we still continue to have difficulty in the area… mostly because as humans, we suffer from the greatest addiction ever know… being right.

<stereotype>Men want to fix. That’s why hardware stores have such a powerful attraction. It’s one of the things we do.  You know, women are good for teaching, nurturing, healing, shopping, managing, cleaning, organizing, loving, supporting, sharing, socializing, volunteering, helping, beautifying, serving… and guys are good for picking up heavy stuff.</stereotype>

But there’s some incontrovertible reality between those HTML tags; for every guy that loves kittens and knitting and cooking and cuddling, and for every girl that loves a good blood-n-guts / sword-swinging / explosions-are-many / bad-guys-get-ground-up action movie, there are a thousand who “fit the mold.” And the little video above is all about staying within the box. Men want to fix, and women want to be valued for nothing else than who they are.

However, as I commented over at Aewl’s place,

For a good relationship to succeed, both partners have to step out of their societal boxes. No, it’s not about the nail; but in the [slightly modified] words of Monty Python’s logician, ‘even given that the activities of listening to your feelings and removing the nail are mutually exclusive, now that the listening is over, surely then, the nail may now, logically, be removed.’ A better response would have been (if one can dream of a perfect world,) “Thanks for listening to what I was feeling. That helps me feel valued and considered. I’m open to input on how to get rid of this nagging pain…”

For open, honest, responsible communication to take place, partners need to give up their sense of entitlement – the concept of “that’s the way I am, you just need to understand me” is only half of the equation. The other part is eminently captured in Emerson’s quote: “Shall I tell you a secret of a true scholar? Every man I meet is my master in some point, and I can learn from him.” So when the rubber meets the road, it’s not about the nail – but if you’re happy hanging on to that nagging pain when there’s someone sitting in front of you with a pair of pliers, then by all means, continue suffering.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

I share with you one of the loveliest articles I have ever read. It speaks volumes about living in the present.

A Ramble in Wales

By Bruce Northam, in National Geographic Traveler, March 2002

An elderly woman encountered on a mountain hike shares the wisdom of a lifetime.

My father and I walk together a lot. Last summer we undertook a 180-mile trek across Wales, coast-to-coast along Offa’s Dyke-the grand earthwork project conceived in the eighth century by King Offa of Mercia to separate England from Wales. Our walk was a celebration of sorts. A year earlier, my father, who was then 70, had undergone open-heart bypass and back surgery.

Now we were walking together atop the long, curving ridge-boundary of Brecon Beacons National Park. En route we befriended Erica, a Welsh woman who was clearly oblivious to the beck and call of stress. At dusk the three of us encountered an elderly lady and her beagle hiking toward us. Teetering along on a walking stick, she wore a motoring cap and held it bunch of wildflowers. I said hello and asked her where she was going. She replied in Welsh, “Rydw i yna yn barod.” We looked to Erica for a translation.

“She said, ‘I’m already there.'”

They continued their placid conversation in Welsh until the old woman resumed her walk. As she faded into the distance, I declared my envy for her simple philosophy. “Let’s catch up with her. There’s something else I’d like to ask.” We spun around and caught up with her. She walked a few more steps along the trail, traded her flowers to the other hand, and raised an eyebrow. Erica translated my question, “What’s the secret to a long and happy life?”
The old woman and I scrutinized each other for an instant, beings from different eras and opposite sides of an ocean. She directed her answer to Erica. “Moments.” There was a quiet pause. Then the old woman smiled, squinted at my father, and spoke slowly, “Moments are all we get. A true walker understands this.”
After a silent minute, we all clutched hands with the old woman, then we waved good-bye as she trudged off with eternal poise and bearing. As we turned to continue on our way, my father and I exchanged smiles.

Moments. They’re all we get.

(Bruce Northam’s books include The Frugal Globetrotter and In Search of Adventure: A Wild Travel Anthology.)

The Old Wolf has quoted.