A Little Help, Please?

[ka9q]

Oh, I don't know.  I suspect not much has changed in this regard for thousands of years.

That's precisely the problem! Our mode of thinking hasn't changed for thousands of years. But our numbers, our technology and our impact on the environment have all changed, and they're all in an unprecedented state.

[Not Myself]

Oh, I don't know.  I suspect not much has changed in this regard for thousands of years.

That's precisely the problem! Our mode of thinking hasn't changed for thousands of years. But our numbers, our technology and our impact on the environment have all changed, and they're all in an unprecedented state.

But then (assuming we're right about how much thought has changed) all of this happened despite a lack of fundamental change in modes of thinking.

[ka9q]

Biologically we're little different from our ancestors of 200,000 years ago. But because we have culture, defined as the passing down of knowledge from generation to generation, we have the accumulated knowledge of all the generations between them and us. In particular we have the discovery of a highly effective method for determining how the natural world works, and the application of this discovery has been enormously successful.

[Allan F]

Newton's famous quote: "If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

[ka9q]

Exactly. I've always loved that quote.

Interestingly enough, I don't think it's exactly original with him, either. Which just underscores the point that it makes.

[raven]

Truth don't matter who says it. That's one if its terrible beauties.

[Echnaton]

The metaphor is quite old.  There are four windows in the Chartres Cathedral that show the four  evangelists sitting on the shoulders of the four main Jewish prophets.  The prophets are noticeably taller than the evangelist, thus on the shoulders of giants. 

[darren r]

Exactly. I've always loved that quote.

Interestingly enough, I don't think it's exactly original with him, either. Which just underscores the point that it makes.

It's also believed to have been a subtle insult aimed at one of his rivals, a man of short stature.