Bestselling author and science historian George Dyson spent his childhood in a waterfront tree house outside Vancouver, British Columbia, building aluminum-framed kayaks based on the traditional Aleut design known by the Russian term “baidarka”. In this short documentary, Dyson discusses his years in Canada and his journey by sea kayak along the Inside Passage. We follow him as he gives a presentation about traditional kayaks at the Alaska Native Day celebration in Fort Ross, California, a historic Russian settlement from the early 19th century.

Analogia, by technical historian George Dyson. In that book, he zooms in, among other things, on a native Russian kayak: the baidarka. This is a vessel that seems almost merged with the bodies of the Aleutians, the people who designed, built and then passed on the baidarka from generation to generation over the course of centuries. It is an extremely efficient boat that cannot be counterfeited with modern techniques. It has a very low water resistance, glides through the water like no other boat. And: according to Dyson, it is an example of how analog technology is the future, because digital technology can never merge with humans in the same way.

How did we end up in a world where people coexist with technologies that we can no longer fully control or understand? George Dyson charts an unexpected course over the past 300 years to reveal the hidden connections that underpin our digital age, and ends with a premonition of what lies ahead. From an eighteenth-century Russian journey through the North Pacific to the mirror signals that heralded the era of digital telecommunications and the invention of the vacuum tube, Analogia weaves historical adventure with scientific insight into a deeply personal story that charts the chase — and its costs. - of the digital revolution in an exciting new light. #technique #boating #kayak

Source: Future Affairs

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