Ever wondered how alien visitors would describe human life on Earth? Well, if you were asking in 1954, Encyclopaedia Britannica Films had an answer for you. “Man and His Culture” observes—from the perspective of “explorers from Outer Space”—that human beings are organized into cultures, which vary in their languages, religions, how they meet basic needs, etc.
It’s a long film, almost fifteen minutes total, so let’s just skip to the fun bits. (You can view the video on this page, but it might not display elapsed time. Archive.org’s page, here, will.)
We learn about social mores starting at 5:07: “In the country which its inhabitants call United States,” don’t steal cars, do wear the right tie to a dinner party, don’t come home with another woman’s hair on your jacket, and do wear pants when walking down the street. At 8:20, we hear what cultural values are non-negotiable: women can pursue their own careers “without serious repercussions,” but having children out of wedlock is not an option.
How do cultures change? The “primitive native” adopts “the advanced culture’s tools” (9:40) and then everyone trades shoes (10:04). There is also cultural resistance to change, a.k.a. your grandmother (11:53).
In conclusion (at 13:48), there are “tiny culture groups” in Africa and a “huge, civilized culture” that occupies pretty much everywhere else. All cultures, however, serve their people by showing them how to be happy by conforming (14:15).
Now, this film appeals to me because of its camp value—the humor in how it dates itself and the horror of some of its “science.” However, the question that most interests me isn’t “How far have we come?”—it’s “How far haven’t we come?” How will today’s scientific “truths” sound to people fifty years from now? Will our “facts” seem as faulty, our assumptions as dubious, our terminology as offensive? If we can step back—maybe not as far back as an alien spaceship, but outside of our normal paradigm—and examine our basic assumptions about science and our world, what might we learn?
Wear pants when you’re walking down the street. And one more for men, don’t wear speedos EVER unless you’re participating in or practicing for a swim competition. It’s just wrong.
Clare, interesting film! I think you’re asking some really interesting questions about how a culture perceives its “truth.”
I had an experience as a young woman that might relate. I used to buy a lot of old science books … say, from a century ago. I began to notice that, although the scientific “truth” being presented barely resembled the scientific “truth” of our time, these truths were stated with a huge amount of conviction … and in the same self-satisfied tone of the film in your post here … or (dare I say it?) of some scientists and journalists of today.
It was pretty mind-expanding for me. I’m glad you’re thinking about - and inspiring us to think about - the subject of a given culture’s “truth.”
Hey! I want to see a picture of you!
Deborah
I don’t like to make predictions about the future,but this one I feel safe in making. I predict that in fifty years, people with a sense of humor will laugh what we call the “truth” of global warming. Others will be angry very angry.
The panic we now have over what a worse will be a very slight change in climate is totally out of proportion.
It’s definitely interesting how truth and right/wrong vary both over time and over distance (Speedos are everywhere on European beaches, right?).
Also, what Deborah read in those old science books and what Tom sees as a temporary “truth” bring up the issue of how widely accepted truths have real-world consequences—prejudices and fears, whether valid or not, influence laws and regulations.
My concern is with the conflicts around the world between the different cultures. Would aliens see us a violent world? This planet has such remarkable beauty. It is so disturbing that mankind can’t figure out how to live peacefully.
People who are not guided by logic and reason, and by what we might loosely call a scienfitic outlook, will believe just about everything. Typically that tends to be what they want to believe — or maybe what they have an inborn predisposition to believe. The evidence for this is in all areas of life and include religion, politics, conspiracy theories and so on. And it seems to me that the more they believe in something based on no evidence or partial evidence, the easier it is for them to dismiss any real evidence.
When you are guided by rational thinking, a lot of people will call you negative or other things because you may not follow the crowd (I can hear the “mooing” now) or you may not accept an idea just because it is popular. An example is all the flack that Al Gore and other environmentalists get over “global warming.” Now there is definitely some uncertainty over the cause of it, but the evidence for global warming is widespread and indisputable, yet many people who do not want to believe it because of its negative connotations will just “bury there heads in the sand,” so to speak.
With all the talk about teaching religion in schools, I propose that we require critical and rational thinking classes instead. Maybe that would help prevent people from inventing evidence where there is none, or from ignoring evidence from things they don’t like.
LS
In Charlemagne’s day, the Franks could only exit their homes - on a clear starry night
- with open umbrellas. They did believe that the stars would “rain” on them.
Charlemagne was very bright, hated superstition, and passed a law that forbade his people to have an open umbrella in the streets, unless it rained water from clouds.
He was shocked when he realized that his people would rather leave his kingdom than obey his new “law.” As a consequence, his tax base began to shrink.
Charlemagne had to think of alternative “supersitious” ideas in order to convince his people to stay. And he invented a tradition, we call today “Pilgrimage” - where people could take a journey, nearby, to visit the relic of a beloved saint and pray.
He probably “died” when the Franks thought this was a grand idea and began to journey all the way to the Middle East, rather than nearby!
[No matter what he did, his plans always backfired on him.]
Science has always been at odds with Superstition. Superstitions are elements that distinguish different cultures.
In the Golden CD sent with Voyager, I would have included something along these lines:
“BEWARE: Human Beings are traditionally very superstitious!”
That’s why I panic….