20th September 2013, 03:23 PM
Wax Wrote:If it was nt for all the Shamanism we might not have modern mental health care (some might say we were better of with the shaman). As for the "Culture" reference read Ian M. Banks. And I truely believe if it was not for the experiments of the past we would not have our current technologies. If it was not for all the grave robbing in the 18th and 19th centuries we might not have modern medicine and I do know that statement opens a can of ethical worms and there are some boundaries that should not be crossed.
I agree there are issues with storage and publication but that is an excuse rather than a reason for preservation in situ. Kevin and Unit are right it is all a con "sweeping our immediate problems under the carpet and hoping either that the issue will be forgotten or that nature will run its course and the 'problem' will simply disappear"
Preservation in situ is a Red Herring meaning we have not got the resources to undertake the proper excavation and research so rather than state the truth lets come up with "preservation in situ" as a reason for not tackling the problem.
That is of course true that the things we take for granted today came about in part from experiment, but some of the experiments were surely total nonsense, and the people carry them out knew that. Those ones probably didn't move things forward. For instance the number of antiquarian forgeries that are now known.
Preservation in situ needs to be honest - if it is being done because we simply can't afford to deal with it now, there is nothing wrong people saying that. It's only a con if some other reason is given first.