An Abacus

Apart from just trying my best to aid medical research with yet another skin cancer patient from laying in the sun I've been thinking a lot of things over. Ever seen a abacus? You know, those centipede like things with wooden beads in rows. They're sold mostly in Knickknack shops for wall decoration. But in fact, an abacus is an adding machine calculator and computer. On second thought that is not quite true. The abacus is just a visual record of the computations going on in the mind of the person using it.

Millions of people still use the abacus daily. Even while I was in Moscow just recently I had to laugh when the groceries were accumulated on an abacus then the total entered into the cash register. And this thing has been in use for more than a couple of thousand years. Not only is it an effective practical tool, but it it nice to look at. Nice to hold and touch. Brass wood and ivory. And the older they get and the more handled by a human being, the lovelier they get. Smooth and dark and polished. They will last for a lifetime; they will never need updating; all the software needed to drive them is fixed between your ears and if they break they can be fixed by an eight year old child with household tools.

Now don't get me wrong. Pocket calculators are here to stay, and they have their place. A luddite I am not- machines are not evil in themselves. Its just that I am sentimental about the wonders of the human mind. And when I find evidence that it can still hold its own in the face of the wizardry of the electronic circuitry of little chips, I am pleased. It is comforting to know that some very old and simple ways of getting from one place to another still work. And I ponder the fact that an ancient and worn abacus will find its way onto the wall of the twentieth century as a thing of art and wonder, made lovely by its usefulness and made useful by its beauty. I've got an elderly chopping knife and wooden bowl that I would stack against a food processor any day. Its the same story.