“The theory of the evolution of man as known to scientists, then, must find a place for the emergence of man as a possessor of language as distinct from the so-called ‘highest’ species of anthropoid apes whose varied cries are not language (which implies thought) but only very fully developed conditioned reflexes. The gap between the highest anthropoid ape and the most ‘primitive’ man has not yet been bridged from this point of view of the emergence of language in what may be called ‘homo loquens,’ which is really the same thing as the familiar ‘homo sapiens.’ The hypothesis of some kind of creative act, therefore, may still be tenable in default of a better considering the origin of language.”

– Wrenn, p.6

There’s an instructive piece of circular logic here.

Language, he states, is a function of intelligence. The two concepts are inextricably linked in his and the popular mind. Homo Sapiens is Homo Loquensand vice versa; the two terms are equivalent. Both are also the defining characteristic which separates humanity as a species from other animals. Hence, any vocalisation produced by an animal cannot be language because animals are not the possessors of intelligence. Why else does he feel the need to re-enforce his point that the vocalisations of apes cannot be language because this would imply that they think?

But Wrenn has painted himself into a corner. He is at pains throughout the book to describe himself as an educated man and a scientist who studies language. He is a supporter of the theory of evolution, which (at the time) stated that change within and between species was a slow and gradual process. Yet to bridge the evolutionary gap between ape and human, and despite himself, he must admit the possibility of supernatural intervention. He accepts that the cause may be revealed to have been a “creative act” presumably by some external party.

Surely, the application of Ockham’s Razor to the problem leads to the conclusion that our currently accepted ideas of the exclusivity of intelligence and language cannot be correct? Isn’t it simpler to admit that animals possess intelligence (however we define it) and language (however we may define that term) than to call up visions of white-bearded gentlemen in the sky manipulating us?

This brings up another issue: is the idea we label intelligence really a binary concept. Is it really either present or absent in a species? If this is the case, how can we admit degrees of intelligence – individuals may be more or less intelligent than others – within the species. The problem for me with this idea is that we have no consensus definition of intelligence. If we cannot adequately define the term, how can we measure it? If we can’t measure it, it is the purest arrogance to make such statements about the differences between the human species and the rest of the animal world.

So, are animals intelligent? Do they posses language? In what degree? Until we have workable and agreed definition of both concepts, these questions will continue to prove difficult to answer.

It’s a commonplace that there is no longer any such thing as a job for life. In the IT industry, in which I work, it’s a common joke that a permanent job is nothing more than a two-year contract. But how can you objectively measure how well the position is going – other than “it just feels right”? How do you know when it’s time to make a break and look for something new.

At my new job, I’m in the process of coming to terms with the realities of the position versus the position as it was sold to me in the recruitment process. There’s always a difference between the two and, in this case, while the degree of difference may not be large, it may be significant. So, here’s what to do:

1. Create an Objectives Statement: Remember what it was that attracted you to the position in the first place? Write it down. If the job reality does not meet what you expected or were lead to believes et some time frames. Part of your role now becomes bringing those items into existence. Don’t forget the social environment as well.
2. Work Out the Get-Out-Quick Triggers: These are the deal breakers. If the new role trips one of these triggers it’s time to polish the resume and begin job hunting.
3. Review Regularly: Once the statement has been written, check it occasionally to evaluate whether the statements you made under points 1) and 2) still apply, are being met or have proven unachievable. This is the key to the process. If you are making progress towards your position goals, great. If not, start considering your options. You may decide to change the goals or you may decide to move on.
4. Talk to Your Manager: This is the tough part. At worst, you can use your position objectives to explain why you’re resigning: “I took this job because of A, B and C. These are unachievable. Therefore, I quit.” Alternatively, you can use your position objectives to feed into reforms in the work place, your training plan and other programs.

An Example in Action

My new role was sold to me a providing much needed NetApp SAN and ESX virtualisation experience to a project team setting corporate IT standards. The reality is that the company is a merge of three smaller companies and is undergoing massive social and technological change. Both NetApp devices are the ESX infrastructure are in their infancy here. NetApp in particular is still at the project stage. While all of this was communicated during the recruitment process, the spin placed on it by the company representative reflects more of an end goal rather than the current state.

So, here’s my position objectives on starting the new role:

Desired Environment (6-12 Months)

• NetApp as core infrastructure within 6-12 months
• vSphere 4 as core infrastructure within 6-12 months
• Improved fitness from walking hills and stairs

The following depend on how the split between Projects and Operations will be managed in the future.

• Me as primary manager/architect of NetApp infrastructure within 12 months
• Me as primary manager/architect of ESX infrastructure within 12 months

Desired Achievements (6-12 Months)

• HP-EVA converted to NetApp (native or v-series)
• Filesharing moved to NetApp CIFS
• All ESX upgraded to vSphere 4
• Implemented ESX clustering on all ESX farms
• Significant increase in server and storage virtualisation

Get-Out-Quick Triggers (Anytime)

• No real progress on reform projects
• No improvements in morale or team cohesiveness
• No NetApp purchase within 6 months (major purchase within 12 months)

• We’re going for another round of IVF. The last round produced our wonderful twin daughters, Charlotte and Marianne. We’re hoping that this round will also bring us another little miracle or two.
• I’ve got a cold. Kathi’s got it too now. Until our IVF specialist reassured us otherwise on Wednesday, we feared that this would scupper six weeks of preparation for IVF.
• I’ve got a new job. My contract at Rio Tinto is not up until mid next week so more on that once I’ve actually started. I’ve been at Rio for nearly three years – the longest I’ve stayed anywhere since I started contracting. Leaving is actually a little emotional.
• I’ve passed the DELF B1 French language competency exam. Yay me!

Hopefully, life will resume some form of normalcy next week, just in time for Easter.

Damn.

Sigh.

Four weeks away from the office allows you to really get yourself together and get all the things done that you’ve been whining about all year. It’s no excuse to claim now that you “don’t have time.” You have plenty of time. You have four whole weeks. Having said that, I didn’t get done all the things I wanted to during my holiday. I was busy everyday with either french study, fencing practise, helping friends with home construction projects, holidaying in almost-exotic locales with Kathi and a whole bunch of other stuff. I only had one day in the entire period where I bludged in front of the TV. I think my list of things to do may legitimately have been too long.

The other events on which I spent my holiday were more personal – my daughters’ first birthday and the anniversaries of their deaths and their funeral. That’s a post for another time.

Sunday: At training, I took part in the second in a series of lessons introducing Meyer‘s dussack fighting style. The wooden dussack was used both as a training weapon for single-handed fencing and as a cudgel carried by the town guard, particularly in eastern Europe. The style is very quick and reminds me a lot of sabre fencing.

Monday: Kathi and I were booked in for another frozen embyro transfer. Well, that is to say, she was booked in for the procedure and I just accompany her in order to look on dumbly and hold her hand. The embyro didn’t survive the thawing process so rather than let this opportunity go to waste, we asked for another to be defrosted. See below.

Tuesday: A bunch of mates came over for a couple of games of BloodBowl. Never in the history of Games Workshop has there been a 4-4 tied game. Yay. Also, I started a running program called Couch-To-5km in 8 Weeks in order to improve my stamina and maybe even lose some weight.

Wednesday: Kathi and I went back to the clinic for a frozen embyro trnasfer. This time all went well.That night at training, we had an introduction to medieval knife fighting as outlined in several historical treatises. This was tempered by one of the guy’s 20+ year long career in the military and his opinion as to which historical techniques work and which were merely advertising to fleece noble kids of their pocket money.

Thursday: I can’t actually remember Thursday at all. I’m sure I did stuff because I’ve put Hesiod’s Theogony on the finished reading pile and all the laundry is done. Also, I put in a second session of the Couch-To-5km program. (The next effort in this regard is due Saturday.)

Friday: Amongst other similarly joyful activities, I’ve scrubbed the mold off the patio roof with some disgustingly evil chemical goop. Now I hurt. A lot.

Anyway, that’s the must-dos out of the way and I can prepare myself for Charlotte’s and Marianne’s wold-have-been birthdays coming up on Monday. I’m taking Kathi out somewhere nice for lunch and we’re just spending the day together.

Right now, I need a coffee and I’m going to throw on the Sarah Connor Chronicles to see what they’re like.

I have four weeks off work starting at the end of today and, yes, it was planned. Now I’m starting to think of what to do during this vast amount of time to myself. There will be, of course, celebrations of Charlotte’s and Marianne’s birthday and a memorial something to remember their deaths. I’m coming to terms with this part of my life and I need to think of other activities I can take this opportunity to do.

My plans at the moment include:

• Studying for an exam which counts as certification by the French government that I don’t mangle the language too badly;
• A little technical training to fill in some gaps;
• Reading a whole pile of books which I’ve not had the time to even look at;
• Fencing practice;
• Finishing some of the renovations Kathi and I started two years ago;
• Getting stuck into the yard and garden to sort that out once and for all;
• Doing a bunch of stuff to improve my fitness;
• A whole lot of miniatures wargaming with friends who work decidedly odd hours.

Kathi is working for most of the time I have off and I’m looking forward to kicking her out of bed in the morning for a change. I’m going to enjoy that a lot.

We’ve been thinking as well of getting away somewhere for a few days but the financial implications of the current contract dispute may purt paid to that idea.

Give me some more ideas. Four weeks is a huge amount of time and now that I don’t believe I’ll be a gibbering mess all during all of it, I want to use it productively. What else can I do?

So, just as all the cool kids are doing nowadays, taking the place of any real content is this lovely little ditty: Miss Emeline Spankhurst sings the Tin Foil Hat Song.

Warning: I haven’t been able to get this song out of my head all week.

The Tai Chi we’re learning is basically the same as that which we did in our two hour intro to the technique in Hong Kong. Being the physical expression of a Taoist organisation, this form of Tai Chi is completely divorced from it’s more martial counterparts and I think lacks some of the exactness and focus on precision of movement that characterised for us our experience in Honkers. Perhaps this is nothing more than the fact that we’re in a beginners class which concentrates on learning the basics and handling precision later. Perhaps it’s a result of it being a western domainated group (at least where we are) which has divorced the technique from its Chinese context and homeland. I wonder how different a beginners class of Tai Chi would be in China?

In other news, SwordPlay 2009 is coming up at the end of the month. This three-day event is an experiment in getting all the historical fencing groups in Brisbane together for an annual tournament, seminar-workshops and general mixing of ideas. It’s being pushed heavily by the ACA‘s Scott McDonald as a way of bridging the myriad of tiny puddles to make one at least average sized pond. Interest int eh event is quite high and it’s drawing participants from historical fencing schools all over the country. There’s even people coming from as far away as Hobart and Perth!

I’ve been reading a bunch of french newspapers on line lately. Of course, these are not the important dailies but the regional newspapers local to the area of France I love, Languedoc and the Midi-Pyrenees. Midi-Libre and La Dépêche are exactly the sort of newspapers I cannot bring myself to read where I live but somehow reading about cats stuck up trees and the like becomes suddenly very interesting when the articles are in a foreign language. I try to convince myself that reading these rags is improving my french as the language of local journalism is very much closer to everyday french than is the language of the major dailies.

Finally, someone sent me a link to a webcomic thingy I’d almost forgotten about: Edison Hate Future. Warren Ellis is a very, very strange man.