Can we reverse prospective cultural extinction?
Saturday, July 28, 2007 at 10:34PM I encourage you to watch this video from TED. It features photographer Phil Borges shares his stunning portraits, documenting the world's disappearing cultures, from persecuted monks in Tibet to embattled tribes in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Note in the lifetime of an elder, the languages spoken in the world will half. (already reduced from 6000 down to 3000 over last 100yrs).
During his speel, Borges notes that a recent $2 million National Geographic survey reveals Americans aged 18-26 rated second last out of nine developed countries in terms of knowledge of what's going on in the rest of the world. 70% of Americans questioned didn't know the wherabouts of Iraq or Afghanistan on a map, let-a-lone India or the position of the Pacific Ocean?
How does this cause you to see yourself and how you think about the future? Can we reverse prospective cultural extinction? Are the on-line connections around the world in the program described a wave of the future? Or, do you foresee another international fate?
Howstuffworks "Phil Borges Talks at TED About His Photography"
Reader Comments