We will not stray too much from
the truth if we admit that much of what we talk about in the course of a normal
day is much about trivia. What we
experience on the drive to work, on the subway or some other public mode of
transportation that took us to work, what was on TV last night and, oh, the
weather, what’s coming up over the weekend, etc. are all trivialities that far
outweigh the serious stuff we do or discuss.
There are exceptions, of course, and perhaps I am exaggerating here. But
get this. Even surgeons and their staff
talk about trivia while in the middle of a surgery. Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell (of Lone Survivor
fame) relayed the story in his book (which was featured in the movie version)
about a conversation while in the thick of a mission. He was admonishing his Seal buddy that it is
Arabian horses, not Arabic horses. And
they did spend some time talking about that particular breed.
What is it about trivia that
permeates human culture? Human
interaction is, culturally speaking, defined by our capacity to absorb and
disburse information, vocally or in writing; however, we do know that trivial
stuff fills the bulk. We expect public speakers, no matter how serious the
topic, to begin with something amusing or just plain funny anecdotes or quips
about trivialities.
It is very unique to us because
no such thing happens in the animal world.
Notice how ants stop each other every time they meet along a single
path. They exchange nothing but serious
information about where food can be gathered from somewhere at the end of the line.
There is no time for trivial stuff in the animal world – it is all about food,
should one flee or fight and, by the way, finding a mate is serious business
and decidedly so if one is trying to hold on to several of them if you’re the
top alpha overlord of the pride, the pack, the gaggle, the herd, or the pod,
etc.
Humans, on the other hand, have
time for other things when food, finding a mate and flee or fight decisions do
not preoccupy them constantly. We do have time for trivialities even though
these do not have anything to do with basic human or animal needs. There is an
exception. Trivia becomes supremely important when one is trying to win in
“Jeopardy”, “Wheel of Fortune” and the former top show, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”.
It perplexes me though that the show
about trying to win a million dollars failed while shows where winning a very
tiny fraction of a million are still popular.
Now, here is the thing. The ultimate trivial information ever is
where the word trivia comes from. But
first it must be duly noted that there is some validity to why some folks’
complain about Wikipedia. You see, it was pretty clear cut for a very long time
that trivia comes from Latin “tri-via”–
three roads or the intersection of three roads.
Latin was popular then because at one time, believe it or not, “all
roads led to Rome”. Anyway, according to early etymology (fancy but clever one
word to describe the origin of words) travelers would leave important messages
to family members or friends posted at the intersection of these three
roads. Indeed, where the tri-via - the three roads – intersected was a
strategic location suited for relaying important information about travel
activities and destinations. However, over time people were soon leaving
unimportant pieces of information that progressively turned notably un-notable.
It did not take long for what used to be important stuff to become trivial
pieces of information. But this is no longer the popular explanation since
after Wikipedia was inundated with so many explanations and origins coming from
all sorts of sources. Soon, many
generations from now, trivia will etymologize
its origin from three letters, www, or the World Wide Web. Reason: Facebook,
Twitter, and others will be the new tri-via.
It will be multi-via, numbering in
the millions of intertwining connections now fondly or derisively labeled
social media, to which this blog is a sporadic epistler of sort.
I do not have a Facebook or twitter account so I can’t open or view
them. I therefore hold judgment. During
the 1st quarter of 2016 I read that there are 1.65 billion active users of
Facebook. There are an estimated 974
million accounts in twitter. Granted
there are overlaps, that is an awfully big number of social media users. If we include You Tube that has monthly
active users at 1 billion, Instagram and blogs (including this one), that is a
lot of electronic signals that propagate at light speed from the twirling
globe.
There is an earth based
scientific program, SETI, for Search for ExtraterrestriaI Intelligence, which
dedicates arrays of radio telescopes listening for any kind of signals emitted
by an intelligent life form from anywhere in the galaxy. So, if we’re doing that it presupposes that
intelligent beings outside of our world, if there are any, that had advanced
their civilization as we have are doing the same thing. We know those SETI folks would be excited at
any meaningful signal they can and, hopefully, will capture someday. If there
are aliens out there, listening, they’ll also pick up all TV and radio
programs, military, radar and distress signals, etc. that had so far been
propagated since Samuel Morse tapped the first electronic signals over the air
waves. They won’t pick up any
non-electronic material like animal sounds, even the infrasound elephants make,
whale songs, even roars of lions and least of all actual tweets birds make. However, the alien listeners could conceivably
pick up the primal scream Marlon Brando made of, “Stella!!!”, if they happen
upon a rebroadcast of “Streetcar Named Desire” from Turner Classic Movie
Channel. But not right away, of course. They will have to wait at least a few years
from the time the signals leave earth (even at light speed) if they are from
some planet orbiting stars within the same vicinity as Proxima Centauri (our sun's closest stellar neighbor). It could be hundreds if not thousands of
years if they’re panning their antennas from across the galaxy. Residents from Andromeda Galaxy won’t get I Love Lucy reruns or know last year’s
Super Bowl winner sooner than 2.6 million years.
The good news is that mal-intentioned aliens as Stephen Hawking seems to be concerned about may quickly
lose interest after decoding the signals they get. They may be fearful if they happen upon humanity's bad behavior and proclivity for war; or, we may not be worthy of their effort based on how trivial our world is. On the other hand, well-intentioned alien
listeners may suffer from tedium upon what they observe on social media.
Stephen Hawking can rest easy. We may after all be saved from alien
intervention if trivium makes them grimace with tedium.
