RE: [Paddlewise] Bears

On 27 Jun 2003 at 23:48, Windwalker wrote:

> > Local traditions based on superstition and other beliefs hardly
> > constitutes knowledge.
> > 
> > Mike
> 
> But would it not constitute vast  experience?

Maybe.  In some cases, the reasons for doing things are lost.  In 
others they are clear.  We don't always know why something is done; 
sometimes it makes sense, other times not.  

For example, IIRC, in some Inuit communities, the women are not 
allowed outside during a caribou hunt.  They must remain hidden in 
their tents.  Men and children are allowed out.  Does this represent 
a vast experience that reasonably increases the likelyhood of 
success?  If so, why was the practice not common in all Inuit 
communities?  Ditto the practice of initiating a new kayak by peeing 
on it.  This was done in some areas and not in others.  Why?

Customs are sometimes based on a single or small number of events 
that for some reason take on an outsized importance that can't be 
explained by looking more objectively at a larger number of events.  
Such is the nature of superstition and such.

In the case of women and bears, there are a few cases of women being 
attached during their menstrual cycle.  These anecdotes became the 
basis of a bias that exists in modern outdoor mythology about women 
and bears.  However, Herrero and others have looked at a much larger 
number of women in bear country and have found that such a connection 
does not exist.  

Anecdotal evidence is not to be taken too seriously.  After all, 
there's lots of anecdotal evidence that Elvis is still alive and well 
at the 7-11.

Mike
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