cartography of destruction
If anyone's ever had a lengthy nerdy conversation with me, I've probably brought up this book I love, "The Body Has A Mind Of Its Own". It explains with how the brain uses mapping in a variety of functions, from our sense of touch, to social interactions.
One of the more interesting (to me) chapters goes into how the brain views the body's environment. There's a portion that sees everything through the lens of interaction- a doorknob isn't a doorknob, it's "hand-grab & twist & push/pull to enable travel-through", a pencil is "fingers-pinch & press point down to [insert draw/write task here]". In any given moment, this part of your brain has cataloged everything it can sense, and is keeping a running list.
Not only that, it keeps especially close track of everything it can reach. There's an entire zone of everything you can touch/interact with. Everything within arm/leg's reach is loaded into a "I can touch/manipulate all this" map. If something enters that zone, the part of your brain that handles this map is activated.
And here's where shit gets interesting. If you grasp a tool that increases your reach, your brain suddenly incorporates that additional reach into the "touch/manipulate" map. If your bare hands give you a 3-foot radius "Grabby Map" zone around your body, and you pick up a 2-foot stick, that map in your brain suddenly expands to cover everything within 5 feet. (though it probably thinks of it as less "grab" and more "poke/prod/whack")
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Why am I thinking about this?
My MMA gear is currently sitting in a bag in my livingroom. My kali/escrima sticks are sitting right on top.
When I grab a stick, it does interesting things to my mind.
It's as if the stick lights me on fire. A flood of violent potential pours through my hand and arm, and fills my brain with attack angles and block patterns, positions and movements of offense and defense, maneuvering zones of advantage and disadvantage. Everything within 6 feet is suddenly a potential target for striking, smashing, and slashing, (and also avoiding) with a helpful chain of follow-up hits attached.
This is probably the source behind the saying, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"- because whatever tool you have modifies what interactions your brain will suggest.
I've never carried a gun, but I wonder if it's the same. Is everything within 10/50/100 yards suddenly reduced to a zone of "point & squeeze to fill with holes" interaction? If so, no wonder people are so fired up about their 2nd Amendment rights. Just holding a stick floods you with a feeling of power, it must be vastly larger with a gun. And also, no wonder there's so many inappropriate uses of lethal force by law enforcement. They're living in those brain-maps all day, every day.
One of the more interesting (to me) chapters goes into how the brain views the body's environment. There's a portion that sees everything through the lens of interaction- a doorknob isn't a doorknob, it's "hand-grab & twist & push/pull to enable travel-through", a pencil is "fingers-pinch & press point down to [insert draw/write task here]". In any given moment, this part of your brain has cataloged everything it can sense, and is keeping a running list.
Not only that, it keeps especially close track of everything it can reach. There's an entire zone of everything you can touch/interact with. Everything within arm/leg's reach is loaded into a "I can touch/manipulate all this" map. If something enters that zone, the part of your brain that handles this map is activated.
And here's where shit gets interesting. If you grasp a tool that increases your reach, your brain suddenly incorporates that additional reach into the "touch/manipulate" map. If your bare hands give you a 3-foot radius "Grabby Map" zone around your body, and you pick up a 2-foot stick, that map in your brain suddenly expands to cover everything within 5 feet. (though it probably thinks of it as less "grab" and more "poke/prod/whack")
****
Why am I thinking about this?
My MMA gear is currently sitting in a bag in my livingroom. My kali/escrima sticks are sitting right on top.
When I grab a stick, it does interesting things to my mind.
It's as if the stick lights me on fire. A flood of violent potential pours through my hand and arm, and fills my brain with attack angles and block patterns, positions and movements of offense and defense, maneuvering zones of advantage and disadvantage. Everything within 6 feet is suddenly a potential target for striking, smashing, and slashing, (and also avoiding) with a helpful chain of follow-up hits attached.
This is probably the source behind the saying, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"- because whatever tool you have modifies what interactions your brain will suggest.
I've never carried a gun, but I wonder if it's the same. Is everything within 10/50/100 yards suddenly reduced to a zone of "point & squeeze to fill with holes" interaction? If so, no wonder people are so fired up about their 2nd Amendment rights. Just holding a stick floods you with a feeling of power, it must be vastly larger with a gun. And also, no wonder there's so many inappropriate uses of lethal force by law enforcement. They're living in those brain-maps all day, every day.