Introduction

Well before the modern era, humans have made amazing feats of navigation.  Polynesians were able to find remote islands like Rapa Nui (Easter Island), a needle in the haystack of a vast ocean.   The Norse found, in succession, Iceland, Greenland, and North America.   Gold traders crossed the vast Sahara in camel caravans.  Aboriginals found their way across relatively featureless terrain in what is now Australia.  How did they do this?   How did they guarantee success? 

Back in the day, people could predict the weather with uncanny accuracy, using aphorisms to describe cloud formations, and patterns.  

Mostly, these days we rely on GPS and weather forecasts that we put our faith in.    Will these changes affect the way we think? 

We are living in an era where we increasingly outsource our native cognitive abilities to technology. This can go hand-in-hand with something called automation bias: the idea that because an answer comes from a computer, it must be correct. Physicians rely on computers to diagnose illnesses and can sometimes miss things right in front of their eyes.   Airplane pilots rely on auto-pilots to the point where their instincts have dulled, sometimes resulting in disaster when the auto-pilot turns off.  We often make the mistake of thinking that technology equals sophistication. 

In this course, we focus on what it means to engage our minds in certain tasks that are often outsourced to technology: wayfinding by natural means, as opposed to using GPS, identifying stars, as opposed to using a cell-phone app, understanding time, as opposed to using a watch.

Although the workings of the mind are not fully understood, there are known linkages in our thought processes.   Long term memories, a mental map of our surroundings, planning for the future, and imaging scenarios all reside in the same part of the brain.   There is a saying, “use it or lose it,” which means that abilities are dependent on regular use.   Studies have shown that the parts of the brain associated with navigation go silent when people rely on GPS for directions.  Conversely, London taxi drivers who must memorize routes through the city have developed strong abilities to find their way without artificial aids. 

Another aspect of the course is the question of knowledge and uncertainty. Sometimes we think of knowledge as binary: either we know something with absolute precision or it is completely unknown.   In real life, the ‘answer’ to a question is rarely in the back of the text or in an answer key.   We have to be able to find an answer and be able to bracket knowledge.  This is related to navigation in the sense that we often have an imprecise, but quantifiable idea of where we are.  Say we set off in the fog toward a destination over the water.   We know where we’re heading, and how long we’ve gone, but some uncertainty creeps into our knowledge.

Finally, there’s this aspect called ‘mindfulness’ – which is simply an awareness of the workings of one’s own mind.   While doing the assignments, I ask that you do some introspection about how you go about doing things, and bring some awareness to the exercises. 

Navigation means answering the questions: “Where are we?”  and “Where are we going?”  The process of wayfinding can be thought of as a simplified case of other endeavors where we have to deal with inherent uncertainties.  Because navigation is a simplified version of other activities in life (e.g. future planning), there is a kind of sustained metaphor to the larger aspects of finding your way.

In the course, we will examine:

• The underlying physical principles involved in navigation through observation of natural phenomena.
• How to observe and interpret these signs.
• Precision and how to handle navigation in the face of uncertainty.
• Navigation in other cultures, such as the Pacific Islanders,  the Norse, and medieval Arab traders.
• Weather, prediction of weather, and climate change.
• How time is reckoned.

Math preparation:  We will try, where possible, to use graphical solutions.   When math is required, it will be typically just addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.   We ask that you not use calculators.   Although calculators cut down on time, they can become crutches, and there may be situations where you are without a calculator and need to do a simple computation – dusting off this capability can be very helpful.  Because we only carry out calculations to a small number of significant figures, this should not be a problem.