Arguments for the positive impact of progress. The influence of scientific and technological progress on humans, arguments

Outwardly, Dwarves are completely different creatures vertically challenged. Usually they do not reach even a meter in height. However, this does not affect the size of their heads. By default, it has a fairly large volume. The physique of gnomes is not very large, but in general they are very similar to Dwarves. Dwarves' hair can have completely different colors, and their noses and ears are quite large. But the skin has a pinkish tint. Their tools, which are always tucked into their belts, will help identify the Gnome. By the way, Dwarves live for about 150 years.

The heroes of Old Norse and Germanic mythology were dvergar/Zwerg, in English version- dwarves (dwarf), in academic translation into Russian - dwarves or dwarves. The word “gnome” only appeared in the 16th century. Its invention is attributed to the alchemist Paracelsus. “Gnosis” in Greek means knowledge. Dwarves know and can reveal to humans the exact location of metals hidden in the earth. The gnomes of Paracelsus are spirits of the earth and mountains, in contrast to them the miniatures and dwarves are completely material creatures

.

The word “gnome” came into Russian at the end of the 18th century. It merged meanings that in English are conveyed by two in different words, “gnome” and “dwarf”. In Russian, both words are usually translated as “gnome”. This is true for everyday speech and translations of children's fairy tales, but is controversial for translations of Tolkien's works, which were based on ancient and medieval texts (Tolkien used both English words in his works, and in different meanings)

.

This approach is also erroneous when translating works of other authors writing in the fantasy genre, and in the case of translating various computer and board games in fantasy worlds. However, due to tradition, translators continue to use the word “gnome”.

The Dwarves invented their runic script a long time ago and have since used it to keep a detailed chronicle of all their discoveries and trade affairs. Each fortress had its own historical library, created by scribes, mainly relating to the affairs of that particular fortress. Over the years, some of these huge books have been lost or badly damaged, but even so, the history of the Dwarves is carefully documented and extremely long, compared to, say, the history of Men.

First literary sources, where dwarves are mentioned, there were Icelandic heroic songs of the 13th century from the collection “Elder Edda”, as well as the text of the “Younger Edda”, compiled by the skald poet Snorri Sturluson, who lived at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. Both literary works contained mythological tales of the 8th-10th centuries, as well as elements of Germanic heroic epic beginning of the 13th century. Let us make a reservation that the word “gnome” itself appeared much later, and we will talk about the legality of its use later. The heroes of ancient texts are doors ( singular“dvergur”, plural “dvergar”), who are traditionally called “dwarfs” in Russian translations of the Edda. This word contains the same root as tribal names in other Germanic languages: compare with German “Zwerg” and English “dwarf”.

In the Edda, dvergs are sometimes also called black elves, in contrast to light elves (prototypes of Tolkien's elves). The peaceful dwarves of Snow White are what the heroes of German folklore have turned into in Hollywood.
.
The Younger Edda explains that dwarfs were first born in the body of the slain giant Ymir (or Brimir). They were worms, but by the will of the gods they found human mind and took on the appearance of people, albeit a bit of a parody. They were the size of a child, but had great physical strength, wore long beards, had faces of a deathly gray color. They were afraid of the sun: its light turned dwarfs to stone.
.
The Doors steadfastly endured any hardship, were extremely resilient and incredibly hardworking. They lived much longer longer than people, but still not forever. The dwarfs did not have women and continued their race by carving their offspring out of rocks. They had a bad character: they were stubborn and quarrelsome, touchy and hot-tempered, greedy, and also possessed witchcraft and were the guardians of the riches of the earth's bowels. The Dvergi were predominantly hostile towards people and gods, however, not without reason: the gods constantly encroached on protected treasures.

.
In the art of processing precious stones and metals, the Dvergs had no equal - they managed to make truly magical things. And the gods themselves were forced to turn to them for help, using flattery and cunning. It was the black elves, according to legend, who forged for Odin ( main god Scandinavian pantheon) the spear Gungnir, which strikes, without knowing any barriers, the warlike god Thor - the hammer Mjolnir for the battle with giants (the thrown hammer returned to the owner’s hand, like a boomerang), the fetters Gleipnir for the terrible wolf Fenrir..

With the development of civilization on the surface of the earth, the underground inhabitants. In German heroic songs and the ballads of the tsvergs (German analogues of the Scandinavian dvergs) trace the development of feudal relations underground. Noble knights visit underground kingdoms, filled with treasures, are friends or enemies with dwarf kings, fight with dwarf knights. As in ancient times, miniatures supply mortals with magical items and weapons of extraordinary power.

In “The Song of the Nibelungs,” the king’s beautiful and brave son Siegfried uses the help of the dwarf Alberich and fights with a sword forged by underground craftsmen. From other sources we learn how the same Siegfried is visiting the immensely rich dwarf king Egwald, and a thousand dwarfs, all dressed up and in armor, offer him their service.

Over time, dwarf gnomes practically disappear from the pages of literature, continuing to live in folklore. Popular fantasy represents them in the form of suspicious creatures, old men with beards, sometimes on bird legs. They can help people and be grateful to them, but they are often suspicious and angry. Some gnome-like characters live peacefully with people, although they are capricious: this is the Scottish Brownie and the Irish drinker Claricon. The Irish leprechaun and the Neapolitan monaciello are persecuted by people because they hide treasures from them. And the Scottish Red Hood, who lives in abandoned castles where crimes were once committed, attacks people himself.

.
The gnomes owe their return to literature to the brothers Grimm, major scholars of German antiquity and nationality, and experts in ancient German literature. In 1812, they published their “Children's and Household Tales”, in some of them the main characters were gnomes. The dwarfs of the Brothers Grimm bear little resemblance to the dwarfs of the Edda, but they are not cartoonish shorts in red caps. They are moderately good-natured, mischievous, sometimes openly evil and hostile to people, although they lack the insidious belligerence of their ancestors.

The further evolution of the gnomes leads to the appearance of a good-natured little man, friendly to people and a disgrace to the proud name of the dwarf..

J. R. R. Tolkien is not only the founder of the fantasy genre, but also a famous philologist. It is not surprising that Tolkien’s universe is based on the images and beliefs of ancient northern myths.
Tolkien calls the underground people in all his books (including the “children’s” Hobbit) the word “dwarves” (plural of “dwarf”), and not “gnomes”. It is interesting that the word “gnomes” appears in the Professor’s working manuscripts: this is how he names one of the elven tribes. When domestic translators got to the working materials describing Middle-earth, they encountered a problem. How to translate the word “gnomes” if the variant “gnomes” was originally reserved for the translation of the word “dwarves”? .

Any inhabitant of Middle-earth knows about the mutual hostility between dwarves and elves. It can be assumed that the enmity of the two peoples is due to cultural differences between them: elves love trees, open sky and hunting by the light of the stars, for gnomes trees are just combustible material, and they prefer the sky and stars stone vaults their underground palaces. However, it is more likely that the enmity between the two peoples is explained by the excessive greed of the Dwarves and the sick arrogance of the Elves. Nothing will give a gnome greater joy than the opportunity to appropriate a jewel that belonged to the elves, and a proud elf will take great pleasure in calling the gnome race “a flattened people.”

Hostility between elves and gnomes can either result in open hostility (the murder of the elven king by gnomes) or change true friendship. The best example Sincere friendship became the relationship between the dwarf Gimli, son of Gloin, and the elf Legolas, son of Thranduil, king of the elves of Blackwood...

The real, original enemies of the gnomes are dragons. From time immemorial, these fire-breathing creatures have been hunting for the treasures of the gnomes and often go to conquer their settlements. Usually such battles end in failure: the dragon, as a rule, wins, and the surviving and impoverished gnomes leave wherever they look. The exile lasts until a hero is found who can defeat the dragon. Such a hero most often becomes one of the people (remember, for example, “The Hobbit”, in which the enemy of the dwarves, the dragon Smaug, was killed by a man named Bard). By the way, this is where the roots of unfriendliness between gnomes and people are hidden. After all, people, as a rule, having killed a dragon, appropriate its treasures for themselves, and the gnomes, continuing to consider these treasures theirs, stop at nothing to return their former property.

But all these strife between the gnomes and other peoples are forgotten in the face of a common enemy, and then a real alliance is formed. .

Dwarves are known for their military prowess, both great and pure love to ale (dwarves drink before the battle to lift their spirits, and after - washing off a brilliant victory). On the contrary, they do not like magic, but at the same time they are able to resist its effects. Dwarves are friendly only to those who can win their trust (and this is not at all easy to do); only to them can they give any of their treasures, which they guard so carefully. Dwarves love hard work and don't understand jokes at all, one can only wonder how they manage to get along well with funny gnomes. In addition to gnomes, dwarves are friendly towards humans, halflings, and half-elves. Sometimes they even respect elves, although they usually consider them eccentric and unpredictable. Dwarves tend to be good, so they hate orcs and goblins.

Anatomically, dwarves are described as robust, broad-shouldered humanoids, standing between 120 and 140 cm in height, with light brown or reddish skin and dark eyes and hair. An indispensable attribute of a dwarf is a gorgeous beard. They mature around 50 years of age and have a total lifespan of about 400 years.

The dwarven kingdoms are deep underground. It is there, in the underground forges, that wonderful dwarven products are born, and in the mines they mine gems and metals, among the latter, mithril (which in D&D is written as mithral) is especially valued. What dwarves cannot obtain themselves, they acquire through trade.

They worship Moradin, the Forger of Souls, speak the dwarven language and use runes for writing. .

.

Dwarves are known as excellent technicians, alchemists and inventors. Probably, the gnomes managed to achieve such impressive results in all of these crafts thanks to their own curiosity. Dwarves dream of trying everything out for themselves; they constantly invent useful things. The curiosity of gnomes is not limited to scientific research, sometimes following the lead of self-interest, the gnomes stage various pranks just to observe the behavior of the victim. Often this kind of joke does not go unpunished for them - not everyone is able to appreciate the sophisticated humor of gnomes. The most mischievous gnomes are called “tricksters.” Many people mistakenly believe that they are evil, but this is not true, rather, they are simply too chaotic.

Unlike dwarves, gnomes are more tolerant of witchcraft, preferring to work with illusion magic. Many famous bards and magicians come from the tribe of gnomes.

Despite their outward friendliness, gnomes are truly close only with dwarves, with whom they share a love of jewelry and mechanics, as well as with halflings, who can appreciate their mischief. Most gnomes are suspicious of those taller than them, namely humans, elves, half-elves and, especially, half-orcs.

Gnomes are smaller in size than dwarves, about 90-110 cm, have skin color from gray-brown to red-brown, their hair is blond, and their eyes are blue. The nose is disproportionately large distinctive feature for representatives of this people. The beard of gnomes is not held in such esteem as that of dwarves, and many shave it off. Dwarves mature at the age of 40 and live up to 350 years. .

Dwarves live in wooded areas, underground, but they love to be on the surface, enjoying the living world around them. It is not at all easy to discover a gnome's house; usually the home is securely hidden with the help of illusions, so the entrance to the gnome's house is open only to invited guests - enemies have nothing to do there.

The main god of the gnomes is Garl Shining Gold, the Vigilant Protector. Dwarves speak a language slightly different from Dwarven.

The D&D developers were among the first to divide the foothill people into two races: dwarves and gnomes. Moreover, each of the resulting races turned out to be original, possessing memorable, unique properties, customs and character. .

Dwarves, being a very hot-tempered and touchy people, have been waging bloody wars for more than 4,000 years. Some of these wars were started due to the fault of the dwarves themselves (for example, the war with the elves), and some are unconditional aggression from other races. As a result of precisely this ongoing struggle with goblins and skaven (ratmen), the Dwarf Empire gradually began to decline. Many dwarf strongholds fell and passed into the hands of the enemy. But despite this, the dwarves continue to fight, and their empire is still quite strong.

Dwarves are as popular among fans of the fantasy genre as elves or orcs. And perhaps even more! And let them not be as beautiful as the first ones, and not as colorful as the second ones. Maybe hard life taught them to keep a low profile? There were too many people who wanted to profit from their treasures and use their skills for their own selfish purposes!

In this article, we tried to trace the evolution of gnomes: from primitive miniatures and dwarf kings, through Tolkien’s Khazads, to dwarves and gnomes from D&D and computer games.

To write this article, I had to familiarize myself with a lot of material, thoroughly understand the dwarven history and their current life. As a result, I began to have much more respect for this little but proud people. And you?

From an article by Daria Boukreeva from the website "WORLD OF SCIENCE AND FANTASY"

.

.

For the most part, gnomes are vegetarians, as they are friends with animals and live in the forests. Their main food: Nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts, beech nuts, etc.), mushrooms, peas, beans, small potatoes, apple sauce, fruits, berries (all types), tubers, spices, vegetables. As a drink, the gnome drinks dew, honey (mead), berry infusions and spiced gin.

Dwarves tend to live in rolling meadows and rocky, wooded areas. In Huijen's book, he says that gnomes live in three trees, the house itself, with a hidden entrance, begins at one tree, and rooms and supplies in other trees.

According to the alchemist Paracelsus, gnomes are the most important of the elemental classical elements of the Earth;
Rudolf Steiner and other theosophists considered the role of gnomes in the development of agriculture to be very important. As earth elementals, they looked after plants and helped them grow better.

Scientific progress is what helps us develop, learn more, provides many opportunities for humanity and largely improves the quality of their lives. But not all people use the fruits scientific progress in order to benefit society.

Main problem source text- This is problem negative consequences scientific progress. Can scientific progress harm humanity? And does it always benefit him?

With his text, I.G. Erenburg wants to make it clear to readers that, firstly, scientific and technological progress can lead not only to positive consequences, but also to negative ones: “A machine can be good and evil,” and, secondly, it all depends on how the person himself uses this “machine”, because it is he who controls it and decides what moral values he should be guided when using it: “The Nazis tried to replace the heart of a fighter with a motor, soldier’s endurance & armor. However Patriotic War proved the triumph of the human spirit."

Many great writers have revealed this problem in his works.

For example, in M. Bulgakov’s story “ dog's heart“Professor Preobrazhensky performed an experiment that turned out to be a real breakthrough in science: he transplanted the pituitary gland and endocrine glands of Klim Chugunkin, who died from a knife attack, and was convicted three times for theft, to the dog Sharik. The success was that this dog did not die, but gradually became a man named Poligraph Poligrafovich Sharikov. But which one? Selfish, ill-mannered, ungrateful, capable of theft and causing a lot of inconvenience to the people around him: he pestered his neighbor’s cook, embezzled several ducats from the professor, deceived an innocent girl, demanded respect for him and denounced his creator to the authorities.

Professor Preobrazhensky, realizing that his creation brings worries to many people, returns it to the opposite state.

And in V. Rasputin’s story “Farewell to Matera,” technological progress destroyed the lives of many people: the construction of a hydroelectric power station required the construction of a dam that would flood the island of Matera. All the inhabitants of this small village were warned and forced to leave, but for some of the heroes of the story this place was their real homeland. They lived on it all their lives, their relatives and friends are buried there, and it was on Matera that they felt a reunification with nature, which is impossible when living in the city. Grandma Daria and her close friends were faithful to their island and were very upset by the upcoming event - the flooding of their painfully native village.

Scientific progress does not always benefit humanity, and he needs to think about this problem and try to solve it, at least starting with one person - himself. After all, what good can this progress be if people use it for the purpose of destruction, causing wars and committing murders?

Effective preparation for the Unified State Exam (all subjects) - start preparing

Updated: 2017-11-10

Attention!
If you notice an error or typo, highlight the text and click Ctrl+Enter.
By doing so, you will provide invaluable benefit to the project and other readers.

Thank you for your attention.