The Wolf Fable

I work with science and technology; I live off both and have always cultivated them as a way of life. However, today I tell a kind of fable... everything adds up and everything is linked in a universe that is unique and affects us all... and that is everything.

Eduardo Terranova

“Dances with Wolves”…

At the end of the '90s I saw a film starring a young Kevin Costner, which without great a priori expectations, managed to move me and make me reflect. Reflections that are updated and become valid again, deserving of their invocation almost thirty years later.

The theme with which this invocation is related is apparently very distant from that of the film itself. However, free association through an intense reflection added to many years of experience acquired on a winding path full of difficulties, pitfalls and also prizes, I found the reason to fill in today's blank page.

Well, blank pages, as I said many times, fill themselves; It just has to listen to the voices of the signals that life delivers in a multiplicity of seemingly unconnected things, but in reality, intimately linked in an underlying fabric in nature itself.

I will only refer to the beginning of the film's plot and its end, since that is them; one introductory and the other, the true leitmotiv of this reflection.

An advanced military explorer, he enters the desert of the American Midwest (still unexplored). At one point, the vicissitudes of the quasi-mortal desert itself led him to be left alone, without equipment, provisions or horse. Helpless and subject to his fate, he had an encounter he had never imagined with living beings that in an a priori conceptualization would be the last ones he would want to see. It was a pack of wolves. Despite the obvious and mandatory design of nature, these animals approached him that he could do nothing to defend himself and surrendered to his destiny, he did not appear aggressive or terrified, since the outcome projected in his mind made any alternative of escape or fight alien. successful, therefore, fear dissipated and careful observation prevailed. The wolves, somewhat bewildered, approached stealthily, but in the end they did not attack him and the man did not attempt to make any hostile movement from then on. On the contrary, he extended his hand towards the apparent alpha male's snout and let him sniff him, in an attitude of mutual recognition.

The event that should put an end to his journey through the desert and through life, became the event that saved his life because he joined the herd and was able to feed and finally not die.

Some time later (impossible to measure under normal conditions since it is the desert: it could have been days or months, it doesn't matter), the walker added to the wolves was sighted by an aboriginal explorer who, surprised by the unusual double vision (a white man next to to a pack of wolves and alive...) This unusual scene took his mind off the primary attitude of attacking the stranger and instead he approached the white man. The wolves, knowing the Indians and mutually respectful of their ancestral and quasi-divine rivalry, walked away and left the two men alone on the plain.

They managed to communicate a little with signs, a little with fragments of European languages that the aborigines had heard from the first settlers whom they repelled from the beginning.

The Indian baptized the white man with a name in his native language, which means Dances with Wolves.

This name catapulted him to a special status in the indigenous community and he lived with them for a long time.?

He learned from their customs, their philosophy, their bond with nature and ultimately to value the greatness of their collective spirit.

He assimilated to them and was one of them.

One day he felt the need to make his experiences known and build bridges with his compatriots; perhaps sublimating the deep and instinctive calling of their native community and their culture. He had the honest and well-intentioned goal of making both nations know and understand each other, for which he kept his notebook filled with experiences, stories, data and facts narrated as a document of the veracity of his observation.

The Indian chief was not very happy with Dances with Wolves' decision and tried to persuade him that it was a bad idea, which would bring misfortune for everyone. However, he respected his decision and gave him his blessing for the difficult journey that lay ahead.

They gave him the best horse of the tribe, he equipped himself efficiently for the deadly crossing, he said goodbye with the promise of returning with progress and well-being for all and set off towards the northeast beyond the mountains on the horizon.

After several days of crossing and deep into the desert, he saw one of the young males of the wolf pack in the distance, with whom he had established a closer bond. He howled in a special way in greeting, to which the traveler responded with a wide smile and a gesture and shout of joy for his company. The young wolf followed him at a certain distance as if watching over his route, but without interrupting his march. The traveler felt accompanied by an expert of the arid and burning plains and therefore, safe.

One morning, he saw a cloud of dust on the horizon. He soon saw a company of US Army cavalry. Dances with Wolves had to make a series of gestures of submission to avoid being shot because he was dressed in Indian clothes and had long hair. While he surrendered, he told them in his correct English that he was an army officer on an advanced exploration mission who had gotten lost in the desert and that he had a diary chronicling the process.?

Reluctantly, the commanding officer believed him and rescued him, giving him water and rest in one of the supplies carts.

Dances with Wolves was beginning to get impatient and anxious, demanding to speak to the sergeant in charge. In the end he did so much that he agreed to talk to the rescued man. He began to tell him his stories and experiences with the Indians and the characteristics that white people should know about the aborigines as a nation.?

The sergeant began to make fun of him and make practical jokes with the rest of the troop. He became angry and handed her his diary book with his notes. The sergeant, illiterate, took the book and exclaimed: Wow, we have fresh paper to wipe our butts with, and laughing, he destroyed the book completely.

Dances with wolves attacked the sergeant and the soldiers beat him up, leaving him prostate, lying and tied to the supplies cart.

Suddenly, a soldier shouted: look over there: a wolf. What is that animal doing approaching us! He exclaimed. It was the fellow lupus who saw that something was not right with his human friend and approached him.

The soldier, once within range of his Winchester, simply shot him, wounding him in the hindquarters. The wolf howled in pain but did not understand what was happening: he had not seen anything approaching his body that was inflicting so much pain and he continued to advance, dragging his battered paw. The soldier, very amused by the scene, shouted: look what a stupid animal, He just shot it and it continues advancing towards us; shooting it again, this time closer and with more precision he hit the front leg, however the animal continued to advance towards its also wounded friend. He, for his part, shouted at it, Go away!!! With tears in his eyes and a soul full of despair and hatred, especially against himself, having learned the consequences of what he had done.

Finally, the unhappy wolf was the collective target of the entire battalion, which had endless fun shooting again and again, until it fell lifeless in the burning sand. Along with the wolf, the soul of Dances with Wolves also fell…

How did these unnatural events happen?

If we base ourselves on instinct, none of what was reported should have happened. However, it happened and the events can be explained, giving us a way to another dimension of experience that transcends instinct in those to whom by nature and logic we attribute such conditions.

Here it is a process of adaptation by the man and the wolf in the first instance, later carried out by the Indian and the white man and between the three, they carried out a learning that altered their primordial natural behavior at that juncture.?

A succession of events then occurred that essentially changed the experiences of the white man and the Indian, while the wolf learned the new situation but also understood and learned that this was a situation that should not be extended to coexistence with the Indians, moving away from them.?

The first consequence of what he learned: from the wolf: he learned that it was not a usual prey; that it could not harm him, (for which a composition of place and situation had to be made); He knew that he was in superior condition, however he approached the man and against what instinct designates in one case to attack and kill and in the other to defend and kill as much as possible to survive, neither of both premises was fulfilled. . They both learned from a new situation and adapted to it. This knowledge endured and proved to be such, as it did not disturb the usual relationship of territories and mutual respect that the wolves had with the Indians, distancing themselves from them and the white man once they made contact with each other. But the latent knowledge of the special bond with Dances with Wolves prevailed even after time and in other circumstances, causing the animal to make a decision that went against his instinct, approaching his friend but by extension the other white men, who They were not Indians and which ultimately caused their death at the hands of the only one incapable of learning anything: the sergeant and his illiterate and barbaric troop.

Learning and generating knowledge causes decisions to be made, whether wrong, right, timely or not. But decisions that obey knowledge that in turn was caused by a prior act of learning. This, of course, does not necessarily have to be intimately linked to consciousness or reflective consciousness. This is demonstrated by the manifestation in the wolf, which, needless to say, lacks the latter. However, sensory activity is present in all the actors in this story.?

It is possible to find a significant number of examples similar or compatible with the concepts presented here, so I will not delve into them. Yes, I have chosen this kind of fable taken from a fiction film that, due to its dissemination of at least the name of its protagonist, reflects the meaning of our essential concept that we try to exemplify in this story.

The fact of making decisions is not always an exercise of intelligence associated with a cognitive and learning process; We see it every day in societies.

What a structural and functional dimer is, is the association of an object (not always an objective itself) to be achieved and the intention to do so. The addition and association with factors generated from the cognitive, emotional, action of learning and awareness of the entire process, constitute units of value to the decision finally made, regardless of its success or error.

If we add to this combination, the factor of responsibility and responsible freedom in the conception, generation of knowledge and execution of the action with its corresponding effects on the environment, then we are talking about an exclusively human action.

It never hurts, however, to observe other “Irrational” but intelligent beings from time to time, to see our own shortcomings and strengths surpassed by the baseline or noise that consciousness generates in our daily lives.?

What happens when we are faced with the need to identify and solve problems that may affect us in particular or our environment?

How do we address the demand for solutions and prevention when possible, while addressing instant urgent things?

How do we select ways and methods to effectively and efficiently use the available resources?, starting with the main one: Available human resources with local ideas, willing to share and execute them.

Are we willing and open to hear and attend to them?

Do we reliably understand the concept of synergy and do we apply it in practice in our environment?

We talk about science and technology, but do we see these and their resources when they are really available in our immediate environment? Even if they are not under the institutional protection of certain farms or when they do not go in the direction of international stock markets and market trends?

Let's analyze all the vertices of the transactional polygon in the management of technology transfer and the generation of de novo scientific knowledge. Let us ask ourselves if we comply in each step with the precepts of rational learning, generation of concepts and correlative application to said cognitive process. I leave the judgment and opinion in the hands of each reader to draw their conclusions and premises.?

The animal is a carrier of intelligent capabilities, programmed and adapted to its specific needs to adapt to the environment and survive. It uses them efficiently and under certain circumstances, it exercises certain more or less sophisticated variations of application of intelligence, sensitivity and learning, which, due to the nature of the situation, makes such a? possible manifestation.

The Human Being, for its part, is naturally endowed as a substantial specific survival mechanism that as such conferred natural supremacy, the ability to reason, to have reflective, moral, emotional and ethical conscience.?

In today's story, we observe an example of learning and making diverse decisions with diverse results and under conditions of consciousness that are also diverse, ranging from natural irrationality to ethical awareness. Some with efficient use of their natural biological resources and others with the use of their adapted neocortex and endowed with such attributes. However, we also saw other humans with the same natural biological potentialities, but no capacity for learning, reflection, listening and action without meditation, which is not even compatible with instinctive behavior, which destroys all constructive action exercised by the human being. protagonist of the story and which, on the other hand, was developed by the chief of the tribe who was able to project the eventual consequences of the decisions that were made.?

The sergeant and his soldiers, biologically capable of having contributed constructively to the succession of events and to the goal projected and desired by Dances with Wolves, responded. However, as mere lissencephalic beings, endowed with a paleocortex that dominates the instinctive action to which they submit. everyone in the battalion, wasting all the capacity of their human cerebral neocortex with all the potential to learn, reflect, value and project.

On the other hand, as an example of learning and also decision-making but in a natural irrational environment due to the biological characteristic of the wolf's cerebral neocortex, the lack of final projection that would lead to its unfortunate death and the outcome of the rest of the plot of the story and the film whose ending like it can easily guess.

It is in these cases where I wonder if we have responsibility to fully use our capabilities, generating a duty from a natural attribute. It is worth asking whether it is an aggravating factor to consciously destroy or not build a solution, or simply not learn what is necessary to be more and better effectors of our own destiny and our own environment, when we biologically have all the capacity that others lack, to improve and make sustainable for everyone an environment that we ourselves modify by our mere presence. We create a Meta Environment that selectively influences and pressures us following the same natural laws that continue to be unavoidable and immutable as the universal laws that they are; and natural beings that we are.

These are not gratuitous reflections that I express, since we have known of multiple examples of these behaviors in the everyday and the transcendent.?

Our vocation drives us to promote and generate synergy and intelligent, free, responsible and respectful proactivity of our condition as natural beings. As such, we live in a large ecosystem that contains us under a holistic thermodynamic system whose fundamental laws inexorably govern us.?

The situation of natural beings makes us stop and frequently appeal in a more varied way and even apparently far from our alma mater and productive and intellectual reason for being, to contemplate and reflect on what we can do for ourselves and our environment.? ?