Date/Time
Date(s) - 5 Dec 2012
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Location
Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre, NYU
Category(ies) No Categories
Meeting of the New York City History of Science Society Consortium
December 5th, 2012 6:00 PM
Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre, NYU, 1 Washington Place
Gerardo V. Aldana
Chicano Studies Department, University of California Santa Barbara
“Wall Street and the Mayan Apocalypse: Exercising Patterns in Randomness”
Proposals that ancient Mayans somehow predicted an Apocalypse (or something dramatic) on December 21, 2012 rely heavily on their reputed astronomical insight. They also rely on unlikely coincidences–patterns that seem too compelling to be accidental. This presentation considers how these factors contribute to the difficulty of interpreting the science of an-Other culture. Here we find an unlikely ally in Donald MacKenzie’s work on the modeling of modern financial markets to reinterpret both the fantasies of 2012 prophecies and an astronomical development recovered from the hieroglyphic inscriptions of Palenque. Exploring these applied social sciences through MacKenzie’s metaphor of ‘engines, not cameras,’–that they drive behavior as opposed to generating accurate representations–the result is intended to shed light on both sides of the cultural comparison.
Gerardo Aldana is associate professor of Chicano Studies at University of California Santa Barbara, where he teaches Mayan archeology, astronomy, and art. He received his PhD in the history of science from Harvard University and is the author of “The Apotheosis of Janaab” Pakal: Science, History, and Religion at Classic Maya Palenque.?
To RSVP for dinner with the speaker following the lecture, please contact Etienne Stockland [[email protected]]
Sponsoring Organizations:
Metropolitan New York Section of the History of Science Society
New York University
Gallatin School of Individualized Study
Columbia University
Colloquium for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society and
University Seminar in History and Philosophy of Science
City University of New York
Ph.D. Program in History, History of Science Lecture Series
New York Academy of Sciences
Section for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology