In the technological discovery of the Mayan Calendar; which has been in use since the 1st Century BC and is still in use today, the coding and de-coding of key dates and times from Gregorian to Mayan, or vice versa, and how theses dates are coded are all obstacles that have been faced. Although, the process does impose quite a few restrictions upon whoever is trying to decipher it.
With this being said, the Mayan’s created a very technical and in-depth process for figuring out the day, month and year; something that we take for granted in this vast and ever-growing technological age. The Mayan Calendar, which originated from ancient Maya (now Mexico and Central America) helped create the building blocks for many of the calendars used around the world today. But more importantly, it helped construct the Gregorian calendar systems, which is the most commonly used date telling structure in the world. [http://www. ebexhibits. org/calendars/calendarmayan. html, accessed 14th August] The coding and decipheration progress is anything but easy, with three distinct corresponding dating systems used: The Long Count, the Tzolkin (the divine) and the Haab (the civil), with the Tzolkin and Haab identifying the days, with the long count ascertaining the year span. [www. timeanddate. com/calendar/mayan. html, accessed 15th August] It is clear almost immediately the restrictions that this type of coding and deciphering has upon the people who have to de-code it.
The system is very intricate and detailed, and one wrong move may “throw off the calendar, allowing for the dates to ‘drift’ and become less reliable. This system of date telling was adopted by many other civilisations, and the basis of the Gregorian calendar systems. We can relate this progression to Neil Postman’s 5 principles of technological change, especially points 1 and 5, [www. students. cs. waterloo. ca/~cs494/papers/ neil=postman-five-things. html, accessed 16th August] as well as a quote spoken by him about the subject in an essay entitled Five Things We Need To Know About Technological Change, written in 1998.
In summary, Postman theorised that humanity witnessed technological change like ‘sleep walkers’ and that we have made us susceptible “to shaping our lives to fit the requirements of technology, not the requirements of culture”” [http://web. cs. ucdavis. edu/~rogaway/classes/188/ materials/postman. pdf, accessed 16th August] with that relating to the fact the a large chuck of humanity decided to choose the Gregorian method of dating; which is by far the easiest form, rather than take the time to learn and understand the complex workings of the Mayan Calendar.
Using this system, the Mayans created a very dependable but hard to decipher code, with benefits and possibilities, but it also has quite a few flaws and limitations behind it. Throughout this day-and-age’s ever growing ‘hive mind’, nothing has progressed as quickly as technological change. Every waking minute new forms of technology are being created for one sole purpose: to further along the world’s industrial scene. However, some technologies, codes, and ancient practises are still used by the masses today, including the Mayan Calendar. Like Postman tated in his Principles of Technological Change “All technological change is a trade off”[www. students. cs. wwaterlook. ca/-cs492/papers/neil-postamfive-things/html, accessed 13th August] The calendar, although unnecessarily convoluted, is still used today, although no to the extent and the proper usage that it was intended for back when it was invented.
It came to prominence close to the end of its cycle (like our century) in 2012, when many predicted would be the ‘end of the world and the start of the ‘ever looming apocalypse’. [ http://www. historymuseum. a/cmc/exhibitions/ civil/maya/mmcobeng. shtml, accessed 15th August]While this didn’t eventually happen, this event, and the uproar on social media, news outlets, and within the public, made sure that every man, woman and child eventually knew what the Mayan calendar was, in layman’s terms how it works, and also showed that it was still in use. As well as it was still being deciphered to this day, allowing for a surge in popularity, and many ‘new comers’ to learn the ins and outs of coding and decoding the elaborate methods of the Mayan’s. [ http://www. sacredtexts. com/time/cal/mayacal. tml, accessed 15th August]
This also shows us that people are willing to learn the codification processes. Even though the prediction ended up being false, it still allows us to recognise that people are still willing to learn how to understand codes, and in this case decipheration of a very complex code. The surge of popularity for the Mayan calendar in the media’s ever-changing eye, allowed for an understanding that through mass media and public hysteria, that coding and codification can be translated into real world events and how exactly the forever growing technological world has affected this progression.
Throughout history, the need for technological advances has drastically risen with our abundant use and dependence on technology. The forever-changing industrial scene has seen constant change in the fabric of what we call ‘modern’. Through coding, codification and deciphering of different forms of technology, be it modern or otherwise, we are able to understand how language and different forms of communication are decoded, including the Mayan calendar.
The Mayan calendar is also a prime example of humanity’s need to make everything as simple as possible, so it is easily digested by a large group of people; i. e. modern people simplifying the Mayan calendar to the Gregorian method. The desired use of the Gregorian calendar instead of the Mayan also shows humanity’s keen ability towards creating media that is best suited to them, and can be consumed in the easiest form. The evolution of the calendar is a great example of how different codes are translated into what w
