Kalatura, Sri Lanka, images from DigitalGlobe Additional photos/video - Washington Post

Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth ... And the Lord said ... behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die ... And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Genesis 6-10, King James Bible Shurippak -a city which thou knowest, (And) which on Euphrates' banks is set- That city was ancient, (as were) the gods within it, When their heart led the great gods to produce the flood. The Gilgamesh Epic, Tablet 11

In search of "the" flood and one critique

Story - something that makes meaning of an event/occurrence/observation (or set of them), something that places it (them) in a context, describes its (their) relation to other things Catastrophe Greek, katastrephein, "reversal of what is expected", an overturning, 3. The concluding action of a drama, especially a classical tragedy, following the climax and containing a resolution of the plot rapid change, unpredictable/surprising, disruptive, creating unhappiness?, pointing to ... ? Continuity - absence of change or change occuring sufficiently slowly as to be predictable, not surprising

Stories

• have uncertain relations to events/occurrences/observations
• typically refer to things beyond the events/occurrences/observations in order to answers questions such as "why" did the events/occurrences/observations happen and what implications do they have for future life (may be explicit, ie in a "moral", or, more commonly, implicit)
• may conflict with one another
• motivate new actions and hence new events/occurrences/observations
• give rise to new stories
• themselves come in different "styles"
  • Catastrophism
  • Uniformitarianism (continuity)
• may themselves change either continuously or catastrophically?
• can themselves contribute to human suffering and/or happiness?

Global catastrophe - a story of a relevant second case: catastrophe as generative

The discontinuous fossil record A problem for Darwin given presumptions about the nature of catastrophe inherent in an older story-telling style One explanation for discontinuities Iridium enrichment at the Cretacous-Tertiary border Additional observations implying a meteor impact Catastrophe as generative Another case on a cosmic scale: supernovae create atoms essential for living organisms

from National Public Radio for update see NY Times, 13 Jan, 2005

from NASA

Catastrophe theory - a story of thinking and computers: catastrophe without plan, intention, or even discrete cause

• Traffic jams
• Population fluctuation
• Additional examples

Tracing changes in the story of catastrophe

The nature of catastrophe

NY Times

NY Times

Telling the story of the Indian Ocean tsunami

For further reflection:

• How many stories does one need? why?
• Are conflicting stories inevitable? desireable?
• Are some stories better than other stories? in what way?
• Where do stories come from?
• What happens to stories over time? why?

Some other current stories that one might use to think about stories ...

• Cassini-Huygens reaches Titan (see Is there life on Mars?)
• An alternative to evolution splits a Pennsylvania town (NY Times 16 Jan 2005)
• Martin Luther King ("If we make the right choice ... justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream")

is actually catastrophism story telling style vs

• uniformatarian I (slow, continuous, predictable, controllable by humans, Englightenment)
• uniformatarian II (no external, arbitrary, unknowable intentional forces but allowing for discontinuities, forces not controllable by humans, some degree of unpredictablity/randomness)