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Plato’s Beard » 2006 » November - whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must make random noises

Plato’s Beard » 2006 » November - whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must make random noises

Plato’s Beard » 2006 » November - whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must make random noises

[via BoingBoing]

The Dead Sea Scrolls it seems contain specifications for construction of latrines:

What impressed me about this bit of news was that the Bedouins will probably have a hard time explaining the reasons behind their practices, but even back at the relevant time, the Essenes probably had elaborate and sophisticated explanations for the superiority of their system as compared to the illiterate practices of the nomads.

My point? There are parallels to this sort of thing in the patronising dismissal of “primitivism” by the scientistic, but often, the lack of an explanation no more disqualifies a practice than the presence of an elaborate, detailed and systematic explanation (in itself) underwrites another.

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