Engineering an Empire

Engineering an Empire: the title I thought was an interesting combination of two words: engineering and empire.  It was enough to catch my attention.

My initial guess was that engineering was meant in a figurative sense; the producers way of sexing up ‘to build’. Who else have been credited in building these empires other than those charismatic larger than life leaders, the emperors and the generals? A feature of how they made empires was my aim because in stories of that nature those emperors and generals are the heroes.

The first episode on the British Empire proved me wrong. Engineering was meant to be literal: the profession involved in building various forms of infrastructure, machines and other forms of technology. It was a pleasant surprise I must say because the show was never boring considering ancient building techniques are not everybody’s first choice when studying empires, least of all mine.

What kept the show interesting was that it did not deviate from the format of historical features. A viewer will still see important dates, the important personages and milestones.

This use of familiar faces and dates acted as a picture frame for the entire series, which houses its key point, the engineering. While military skill expands an empire, the show implies in some way that engineering is the backbone of it all; that a civilization’s mastery of the discipline can be the catalyst that catapults it to be greater than the others.

Engineering, according to the series points comes in at least three forms. There the utilities, which includes aqueducts, sewage, or roads; just about anything that is of general benefit to the public. Second, infrastructure for reasons of prestige or as a symbol of power; it is built just for the sake of having it because no other civilization or country can. The third and most obvious is military technology which is a basic requirement if a nation wants to carve out new territory.

Credit for an interesting series can also be given to Robocop star Peter Weller who, to my surprise, is an academic; having a professorial post at Syracuse University, teaching Fine Arts and Literature. Rare is an actor hosting a series like this for reasons beyond acting. In Weller’s case it can be said that he knew as much or more than the script he was reading from.

He had presence, which more than I can say for many professors. But Peter Weller’s passionate explanation was not all that made the series interesting but also the topic itself.

Ancient civilizations gives one an image of hammers and nails which is to say the techniques are primitive or unsophisticated compared to present engineering and can therefore be irrelevant. That would be the wrong  point of view.

The techniques may be antiquated but the projects are indeed comparable to the present day. Every episode I keep asking myself over and over how can they do that; especially in the absence of computers and heavy equipment. The organization and planning required collecting the materials and leading the enormous manpower is something I cannot imagine.

Take for example the aqueducts; this infrastructure used for water transport requires only gravity for transporting water for dozens and dozens of miles. I have difficulty picturing how one would create consistently accurate and gradual downward sloping; elevated maybe ten, twenty, maybe thirty feet off the ground over a great spans of uneven land using a series of arches. Add to that the manpower that is composed of either peasant or slave; let’s just say that Union trouble was the least of their worries.

Considering that they were suppose to be primitive I had this misguided (I now realize) opinion that I can easily grasp the idea. The accuracy needed for the end product plus the logistics for all the stone and supplies; as well as the command structure needed for what I assume are plenty of slaves; makes my jaw drop just imagining the possibilities. I mean if they were that good then shouldn’t man be on starships now, at least that’s what I think.

Overall I’d compare this documentary series to CSI. Typical detective shows before Crime Scene Investigations had the police at the forefront. Protecting the streets, solving crime, would not have been possible without those brave policemen or detectives kicking those doors down and shooting their gun. The police were the heroes being the sharp end of law enforcement.

After CSI, the lab guys, geeks and scientists became the heroes. For Engineering an Empire the spotlight has been taken away from those Julius Caesars or Alexanders and instead aimed on those builders and engineers who have all been overshadowed by the military.

If nation has an Alexander the Great chances favor it in every battle. But as Sun Tzu said of war, “There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.”

So beyond war a civilization needs its infrastructure; its people well sustained; creative, and believes in the idea that makes them a nation.

In Engineering an Empire the engineer, the geek and not the warrior, can be the hero.

Rewriting Pandora's Box

Search Pandora’s Box and moral lesson together in Google it will point to sites that say the myth is a condemnation of curiosity. ‘Curiosity kills the cat’ was even among those results.

In case you have forgotten your childhood tales, Pandora is the girl who unleashed trouble/monsters into the world because she could not control her curiosity to open a box (a jar in earlier versions).

There is a reverse version by Theognis who suggests that good creatures were contained in the jar. The fly in the ointment as it were was curious Pandora who opened the jar releasing the goodness until only hope remained inside. Unlike the unleashed evil which lurks the world, this version, the good spirits having escaped the jar have moved on to another.

The tale in its raw form of myths and monsters has been told mostly to the young. No different from telling a rather restless child that mumu, ghosts, and all sorts of monstrosities are around the corner to prevent them from straying. Unfortunately as a metaphor, the myth has made its way to adults.

Pandora’s Box has been used to describe the evils of ideas in the hopes that like children they may be scared to ever moving at all. It’s like saying this idea may look harmless to you now, but wait till you make the next step; when you ‘open the box’ so to speak. The RH bill, Sex Education, Nuclear Energy, Stem Cells, Homosexuality among others have been associated with the tale.

In most cases it doesn’t seem to matter which side you are on those views, the point of the tale is not to take the next step; perhaps more to the point, the message is not to ever look. Not unreasonable with monsters lurking under the lid. So end of story?

Well not quite at least not for me. With just monsters under the lid albeit imagined the story would have made sense, but it did not stop there because underneath it all there was Hope. Why is it there, an odd mix of monsters and a flicker of something good? If opening doors to knowledge declared as forbidden is evil why was there Hope at the end of it all?

So here I started think another way of seeing Pandora’s Box, maybe not the first to do so with many versions of the myth, but most certainly a minority.

We start at the heart of the story, Pandora, the curious girl who started all the trouble.

Of curiosity Albert Einstein said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” And if you still doubt his support of curiosity he also said “It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education,” perhaps in reference of adult tendency to tell the young to shut up with all the questions.

There is even a support of the dead cat by Arnold Edinborough: “Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.”

If you are in subscribe to the traditional meaning of Pandora’s Box then perhaps the Wright brothers should have accepted that man does not have wings or Pasteur should have accepted diseases as a curse from the Divine. Rizal should have just accepted the Church and Spanish abuse. Where would we be if not for people who dared open their own personal and societal boxes?

Perhaps you will say it is different because Rizal, the Wright brothers have always been heroes; that they were right. Curiosity is not always about right and wrong but more about asking questions; trying; or as the story goes, it’s about looking under that jar lid or box cover. Curiosity is a prerequisite of discovery.

Which brings us to the next stage: the monsters. After the numerous curious souls throughout history have opened their boxes was it always perfect once that lid was breached? Rizal ended up as dead as that proverbial cat for daring to question the church and Spain. And I am sure in the age of pre-flight; those early attempts to get off the ground have resulted in broken bones, bruises, and certainly death (if they got high enough). It seems at least for these two cases it was right, the box should have been closed.

But can it be closed? The evil unleashed version would seem to indicate this as a bad option because the monster is already out. No use turning back. Admittedly the Theognis version were good was released and they left the world is a difficult fit for this analogy. Perhaps the question in this case is that would it be of benefit if the box remained closed with all the good inside.

The key piece in the story is Hope. In the context of the myth if Pandora were to close the box the monsters would still be there. As a gift of the gods we can assume it can never be destroyed especially by a mortal. Closing or burying in the hopes that it can be forgotten only postpones the inevitable; the fact it exists means anyone else is bound to open it again unleashing only more monsters.

So there nothing to do but to brace for the monsters until the bottom of the box is reached and only Hope is left.

Pandora’s Box I believe is an analogy about knowledge and ideas. A person gets knowledge, ideas; creates something entirely new because of curiosity. It is by no means a walk in the park as is pointed out by the monsters.

To close any particular area of knowledge or idea is not an option because the mere fact it existed means that the idea exists. If one can open it and unleash monsters means others can. The discovery of something new is by no means perfect. There is really nothing left to do but to keep it open for all to see, add to the ideas, provide solutions, discuss, experiment, until finally you find meaning in those ideas and see Hope.

Rizal ended up dead but Filipinos not closing the box on independence eventually won it and have made made him National Hero. Airplanes have made the world smaller. Pasteur is considered one of the pioneers of microbiology. If the box that was closed prematurely we would not be where we are now seeing Hope.

Sure the Philippines may be in deep shit now but who knows; maybe this isn’t the end of the box. Powered flight is doing well which leaves outer space as the next box in that area. There have been new diseases since Pasteur but his way is simply better than relying that the ‘divine curse’ be lifted.

Now how is the RH bill, Sex Education, Nuclear Energy, Stem Cells, Homosexuality the same as Rizal and powered flight? How are you sure that it is not? Maybe all that is advertised by the naysayers is not the end of the box.

All are ideas opened up by the eternally curious human mind and as such they will never be closed. Nothing left but to brace for the monsters real and imagined because it is certain there will be mistakes and rough seas so to speak. But never close that box and wish that it will be buried and forgotten. Open it wide and understand it until the end where Hope is found.

Pandora's Box: no longer should be a box that should have never been opened but, for the Philippine setting at least, a balikbayan box with a really annoying package protection.