Stop for a moment and look around you. Does anything seem out of the ordinary? Probably not. But notice the objects around you. They all have a similar shape. They are smooth, straight or angled (and perhaps all three). Squares, rectangles, circles, triangles, octagons, lines … all very geometrically portioned – and all very unnatural.
Euclid was a mathematician from around 400 B.C.E. Some say he was schooled by the famous philosopher Plato and perhaps Plato's forms were an inspiration. Regardless, he is the father of Euclidian geometry and his objects are the object of this rumination.
In the modern world, Euclidean Geometry is everywhere with its fundamental principles embedded in architecture and product design. The problem with geometrical objects is that they cannot be found in nature (albeit except perhaps for the random formation due to erosion). A mountain may resemble a triangle – the sun a circle – the horizon a line. But on closer inspection, they are not. Geometrical objects are smooth and uniform. Natural objects are textured and varied. There is a dissonance between what we as humans evolved sensing in the natural world and what is around us today.
I think first of fitness. Olympic weights/bars, nautical machines are all Euclidian. Even most body weight exercises are as well. For example, the pull-up bar is a horizontal straight bar – smooth and level. Compare that to a tree branch. The branch is textured and its thickness varies as it extends to leaf. The branch is somewhat crooked, breaking up, down, left or right. The height varies from tree to tree and if you grab a branch, it may have a little give from your weight – it may even break. Even before the exercise is attempted, our bodies innately know the difference between a pull-up bar and a branch. There is no pre-thought that goes into preparing for a pull-up in the gym. In nature however, you need to think before the exercise. How will I reach the branch? Can I jump or must I climb the tree? Can it carry my weight? After I grab it, do I want to pull myself up or swing myself up with momentum?
More generally on fitness, the inputs into our system when in nature are markedly different from the world we live in. Our floors are smooth and perfectly leveled. Even outdoors, our use of shoes keeps things smooth. What we see all day, even for many when looking out the windows, are Euclidian geometric objects. What we touch is smooth and what we carry evenly distributes weight. This is a rather new phenomenon in the course of human history. Prior to the last hundred years or so the perfection of objects had the imperfection of the human touch of the artisan. With machines on the assembly lines performing the cutting and measuring, a right angle is always 90 degrees.
Euclidian principles (the structure and uniformity) perhaps have invaded our food decisioning too. Think of the normative mantra – at least three meals a day, a certain portion of carbs to fat to protein at each meal, and the mini-meals in between breakfast, lunch and dinner to keep the metabolizing running efficiently. This is very much like machines and different from the varied eating habits of earlier humans whose food supplies were never certain (think the pre-agriculture revolution hunters and gatherers).
Euclidean principles have also permeated the way we think. I performed an unscientific sampling and asked a number of people the following question: “What is the shortest line between two points?” All of the responders said a straight line. This is true on paper. If one were to draw two points and connect one example with a straight line and another with a crooked line – even without a ruler, it is clear the straight line is shorter. But in reality, this almost never holds true. Between two points can be a wall, a mountain, an army or just about any obstacle. Going around things is usually the shorter path. It’s funny that there is a cliché about thinking outside the box. Perhaps they had Euclid in mind.
Something so evident seems to be escaping us. For many, we just don't see it. But it does raise an interesting question: How is our Euclidian civilization affecting us? Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution negated in just a few short years must have some impact. Depression or other mental disorders? Does an Asperger's mind conform better to this new reality? The questions abound. So when you have a moment, take a look around you and ask yourself one last question: “Have we designed a world we are not designed for?”
May 18, 2012 by 
