[Greenbuilding] "(Wo)Man is the measure of all things" (was Re: metric system in building)

[YankeePerm at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/28/07 12:06:13 PM, ArchiLogic at yahoo.ca writes:


> 
> Ultimately, the system of measurement that we are comfortable with, is 
> that which we know and I would venture that that which we know best, is 
> our own bodies.
> 
> Leonardo (da Vinci, not di Caprio) probably best illustrated this notion 
> with his drawing "The Vitruvian Man" [snip]
> 
Back in the Dark Ages, when I was a Boy Scout, we were required to learn the 
dimensions of various body features, to aid in estimating measurements.   The 
span of one's hand, the length of the thumb, length of one's stride, etc.   In 
gardening, I always use these sorts of measurements.   It matters not if my 
foot equals the legal measure, so long as it is a consistent measure by which I 
base spacing, depth, etc., to personal gardening standards accumulated over 
about 60 years of growing things, off and on, mostly on.

Alas, the industrial revolution has corrupted the value of personal units.   
(A pox on Eli Whitney! Not that it will harm him much now.) So our machines, 
our buildings, and indeed many of our people, are notable as interchangeable 
parts.   If one buys a batch of 8' 2x4s, s/he gets highly chagrined if they vary 
in dimension by some negligible amount, say 10 percent.   We don't make 
things any more, we assemble them.   Car mechanics who fix cars are rare--parts 
swapping substitutes for intelligence and skill.   In this context, it is not 
surprising that some dehumanized arrangement, such as the metric system, is seen 
as attractive.   I doubt that it will bear the test of time, as the other 
unsustainable, inappropriate scale props to our societies snap and collapse.   
Only people who can make things will survive--not all of them, but certainly no 
others.

DH





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