[SKRIVA] Re: The Guy Who Intevnted Sex
- From: Kristoffer Holmén <illern@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 08:28:45 +0200
Ahrvid Engholm skrev:
> (A thing I just published on an English language sf list, but it may
> be of interest here too. --AE)
>
> I'm not sure if this is a proper subject for Trufen. But it is a guy
> fundamental for modern science. And sex.
> The last week Sweden celebrated the 300th anniversary (birthday) of
> the
> great Swedish botanist and natural scientist Carl Linnaeus, known in
> Sweden as Carl von Linné (after being knighted; lots of Swedish nobility
> have "von" names, meaning "of"; he is on our 50 crown notes as "Carl von
> Linné").
> Carl L was the guy who systemised species of nature. He invented that
> every species should have a first and second name, a family name and then
> a specific name, in latin. Eg "homo sapiens", meaning "humanlike"
> (first),
> "sapiens" (second) meaning "sentient". In Linnaeus' times, there were no
> skeletons of Homo Neanderthaliensis or so to be found, but he obviouisly
> anticipated them in his system. (Some hints in his writings anticipate
> people like Darwin, but not very much - Darwin has his own glory,
> outshining Carl L even.)
> Carl L wrote a lot of works about his "system naturae" and sent out a
> lot of resesearchers (scores of them) all over the world to describe the
> species of nature all over the world. His influence is proven by the fact
> that one of his disciples, Thunberg, was the first to make an assembled
> description of the nature of Japan.
> His Flora Japonica - inspired by Carl L - is even today considered
> as a
> founding piece of Japanese science. The fact is that today's Japanese
> emperor Akihtio who is a trained micro-biologist, knew about Linnaeus and
> himself requested a visit to Sweden upon this anniversary.
> So be it.
> We the last week therefore had a rare state visit to Sweden by the
> Japanese emperor! Japanese media were all over the place. We of course -
> as being a monarchy - had decent hosts, in the form of our royal couple,
> king Carl XVI Gustaf and queen Silvia. An emperor and a king on the same
> red carpet, that's something! A mere "president" can't beat it. (The
> Japansese have the only surviving emperor, IFAIK. You Americans made a
> wise decision to allow it. Without it you'd lost half a million men to
> invade Japan.)
> Much around the anniversary for Carl L was around the university city
> Uppsala just north of Stockholm, eg a memorial service in the
> cathedral (a
> very fine one, foundations from the 13th century - beat that, yanks!). It
> was a special wish by the Japanese emperor that he wanted to visit the
> birth/death-place of Carl L since he studied him in his youth (Flora
> Japonica etc). It was indeed a great honour - a foreign statesman having
> an interest in a Swedish scientist.
> In New York Times you probably only got a notice on page 17. If that.
> There were a lot in the Swedish media about the emperor's visit, and huge
> amounts in Japanese press. A 3000 years' old tradition (Japan) visiting a
> 1000 years' old one (Sweden).
> The influence of Carl Linnaeus has been discussed. The most
> influential
> Linnaeus Society is in London! (Carl's poor widow sold his collections to
> them, while the Swedish state didn't recognise their value.) Many of Carl
> L's classifications have proven to be irrelevant under modern DNA
> research, but his system has survived - just being adjusted. Carl L
> invented *the sexual system*, considering living beings as sexual
> creatures. Imagine that - he *invented sex*. Wow!
> So we celebrate the guy who 300 years ago invented sex. And I think in
> that situation even an emperor should be without clothes...
Alltså vad menade du nu? Jag hängde inte riktigt med på slutklämmen om
att se människorna som sexuella varelser och så.
/Kristoffer
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