Where Are The Egyptians?

"In 1996, the weekday edition of the New York Times was estimated to contain more information than the average person was likely to come across during their whole lifetime in seventeenth century England."

I recently read this sentence in a marketing research book. It got me thinking about the relationship of education to quality of life. It also made me think about what must be the vast difference between the thinking of ancient and modern man.

On this trip I saw my first airline passanger unable to read, and therefore unable to find her seat assignment. I've spent days discussing with newspaper managers the fact that the majority of Egyptian consumers have stopped reading in favor of TV news because they don't like to read; TV is easier. It makes me wonder if years from now the human mind will have plenty to know, but will need information fed in soundbites which might have been digestable to our seventeenth century ancestors.

I was discussing with a German colleague who works in Egypt the idea of "my brain is too full." He was quick to point out that the Egyptian equivalent is "my head is empty." I was immediately struck by the difference. The first is focused on the continued acquisition of knowledge: The second on retaining on what you already know. Is this the difference between a post-Renaissance or Enlightenment society and one that is otherwise?

Yet, a core of young, educated and fairly wealthy Egyptians prefer the Internet and newspapers to TV. They like to actively read and seek out the truth in news by comparing sources. They work to know, rather than knowing to work. So perhaps there is hope, both in Egypt and for humanity as a whole.

Certainly exposure to the sculpture of ancient Egypt suggests even ancient man had some inquisitive and educated thinkers. The Pyramids remain an impressive feat by modern standards. The building blocks and the buildings are huge.; the planning and precision required to be successful impressive. Now imagine doing it all without iron or steel and a total body of human knowledge reducable to the weekday edition of the New York Times.

Ancient Egyptian sculpture is similar. At the Egyptian Museum in Cairo I've seen the accuracy of sculpture in facial features and sharp and precise detail in various mediums, both carved and in relief on the same work.

Ancient Egyptian art is nuanced with sharp colors, including variety of skin colors (women being mostly light and men mostly dark). High cheekbones, small jaws and aquiline noses are all evident, as are the African features of one Pharoh from the Nubian kingdom. Even death masks are highly accurate. Art of later dynasties reflected deformed heads and physical diseases like elephantitis in royal persons. Compared to Ptolomaic (Greek) and barbarian art of the same periods, the Egyptians were leagues ahead of their neighbors.

Similarly, the Egyptians made papyrus paper long before paper existed anywhere else. Their methods were used for centuries until Chinese paper was introduced. Later they developed cuniform tablets with clay envelopes.

Today, the Egyptian Museum reflects the modern, sound-byte mind. Storage boxes are scattered and stacked about the exhibit floors. The exhibits often have no or partial labels. Things are poorly organized and nearly incomprehensible to someone without some knowledge of Egyptian history acquired through reading, or the aid of a paid guide with a full head.

It makes me wonder what happened to the ancient Egyptians who put up such tremendous architecture and art. Where are the faces depicted in the sculpture? I look. I watch. Occassionally, I'll see someone on the street with the same chin or cheekbones. And sometimes, just sometimes, they are even carrying a newspaper.....