A Maelstrom of Sound

The Warden

I have always marvelled at the canine sense of smell; the ability of the four-legged friend to detect individual odours over significant distance, time, and despite interference is a truly spectacular gift which Fido is able to put to some amazing uses as a game finder, law enforcer, medical alert, or even person finder. However the science of canine muzzle works, what most impresses me is that through inclination or training, the dog can work its way through a multitude of competing scents to lead its way to the one it needs. I have read a little about it but still cannot imagine how it feels to do it, lacking as I do anywhere near the same scenting power.

The closest intelligible analogy I have been able to conjure is the deliberate tuning in to a single voice’s narrative as it struggles to be heard within a maelstrom of sound.

Recent months have necessitated a similar ability to canine scenting in discerning quite what guidance is actually directing us all to do. This is not an inability to respond appropriately to three simple two-word commands but rather to read, to process, and to synthesise a vast range of information on what we might be able to in the coming months; this would not be such a tricky task if such written resources remained static but in the constantly evolving world of data, multiple daily updates, and policy designed on the hoof, one might be forgiven for having to blink a few times before one can see the trees. The risk of order, counter order, and disorder looms ever close.

Through it all, I have felt a strong sympathy for those in a position to advise policy makers, and here I mean those who are appropriately qualified to do so.

For those non-scientists among us, there is a perhaps an unfair, misplaced and immediate expectation that they will provide a single, definitive and eternal truth in the context of an ever-developing and entirely novel situation.

This does not allow scientists to do their job: to observe, to question, to hypothesise, to predict, to test, to iterate, or to even admit when a question is currently too hard to answer [and apologies to all for a doubtlessly crude over-simplification]. It is not that earlier conclusions were necessarily wrong [although they might have been], but rather that theories are revised according to the data available. Whether the question being posed relates to climate change, badgers and TB, or coronavirus, rarely will the answer be binary. Ultimately, of course, the decision as to what we do next will ultimately fall to others but one hopes that such choices are based fully on the best evidence of the moment.

Despite working in a profession which wants to be evidence driven, we are seemingly adept at choosing when we wish to listen to expertise or not – but by virtue of our inclination or our training, we are perhaps no different to the dog’s nose.

The Dog

I am giving his Wardenship the cold shoulder at the moment, and he knows it. I am refusing to sit at his side, moving to the other side of the room, and letting an audible hurumph slip at tactical moments – just in case the point is not clear. He’s not actually done anything majorly wrong but he needs to know that this whole man’s best friend thing is a two-way street, and a Fido friend is no automatic right.

Essentially, I have been consigned to exercise with She Who Thinks She Should Be Obeyed [SWTSSBO]; this is not necessarily bad and does offer significant entertainment, and she’s always good for a tantrum.

Anyway, I had him spend 20 minutes last night deconstructing a chew for me [you’d think he’d spot the clue in the name?], getting red faced, angry and determined. Once done, I polished it off in 2 minutes. Simple things …