peer-see

The other day, one of my colleagues used the term potlatch. I assumed that a potlatch was just Liverpudlian for potluck, but he set me straight.

The hunter-gatherer economy of these North West Native American peoples was based on huge seasonal gluts - a wealth in berries and game plus the riches of the sea that included whales and salmon…It was the sheer abundance of food that allowed these tribes to develop a cultural phenomenon known as the potlatch, which makes them truly fascinating. The potlatch was a social event at which vast amounts of food, copper utensils, blankets and other worldly goods were destroyed in a show of massive conspicuous consumption intended to underline social superiority…

- from Bonhams Auctioneers

In fact, the destruction of the gifts very rarely occurred. It was more an example of chest thumping and a method of redistribution of the wealth of the tribe from the top down - and to neighboring tribes. It was good politics. But an entire village tossing its valuables into a lake makes for a better story, so let’s run with it.

If the villagers were being excessively wasteful, they certainly didn’t invent the concept. There is plenty of precedence in Nature. Waste is one of its fundamental principles of the natural world. Just think, a single egg might have 1.2 billion sperm thrown at it. Coincidentally, it has roughly the same ratio to its suitors as I have to the Chinese. Weird.

One of the more interesting examples of waste is a behavior called pronking (or stotting), when the springbok antelope, upon seeing a predator, leaps more than six feet straight up into the air. Its first jump might be explained by it having had the bejeebus scared out of it by a lurking cheetah. But it then continues to pronk. And what’s more, the rest of the herd starts pronking, too.

Pronking and stotting and sperm. Oh my!

This pronking is an example of something called Zahavi’s handicap principle.

…Zahavi proposed that each gazelle was communicating to the cheetah that it was a fitter individual than its fellows and that the predator should avoid chasing it.

- Wikipedia

Essentially, its actions express, “I’ve got enough energy to pogo around here for a while and still outrun you and then some. Chase me and you go hungry.” It’s called a handicap because the animal potentially impairs itself by wasting so much energy on the superfluous leaping. Other examples include the ostentatious plumage of the peacock and the telegraph-like pushups of the mating dances of lizards. Both handicaps earn breeding rights for the show-off.

Potlatching show-offs earned respect within their immediate society. Perhaps more importantly, their tribe earned the respect and gratitude of other local tribes. Besides, at the tribal level, extravagant displays of wealth weren’t necessarily a threat to the community’s survival. The potlatchers lived a hunter-gather lifestyle predicated on cycles of vast abundance and dearth. Hoarding away every scrap of whale for future consumption would have been absurd.

It’s one thing to waste resources in a state of abundance. It’s quite another thing to cast away wealth in the face of scarcity. China mirrors the world in regard to its looming shortages of natural resources. The country has upwards of 1.3 billion people and not enough drinking water. What’s the solution? One enterprising university has an answer: tee up!

Xiamen University is making golf lessons mandatory for certain business related majors.

Golf has become popular in China in part because Asian business cultures use it to foster guanxi, or “connections”. Shenzhen has the largest complex of golf courses in the world. Beijing has so many courses that its local government banned the construction of any more because the craze was affecting water supplies.

This is the brainchild of Zhu Chongshi, President of the university. This China Daily article gives us a view of his reasoning.

In his speech, which was about education at an elite level, Zhu supported the unusual training by saying there was a need for “elite education” to help develop China’s education system.

He said a bachelor’s degree used to be respected regardless of the major, but today higher education has grown into an industry designed to fulfill market demand.

“It is as beneficial to society as compulsory education,” said Zhu. “The highest embodiment of the education system is producing socially elite people with the best education.”

I have to disagree. I’m not sure it is such a great idea. Students enrolling in these courses may find that one day, when the revolution comes, their handicaps have earned them the not-so-coveted position of first against the wall.