Those of us who grew up with Carl Sagan’s Cosmos (and, more recently, devoured the remake with Neil De Grasse Tyson) cannot forget the story of the Library at Alexandria, unequaled repository of knowledge in the ancient Mediterranean, destroyed by a mob drunk on devotion to dogma and proud of their own ignorance, the librarian murdered in the street, irreplaceable and priceless works of all disciplines lost forever. The point, of course, was that knowledge can be lost to humanity. The accumulation of knowledge over generations and across geographical and cultural barriers is not guaranteed. It is vulnerable, and must be protected.
Re-inventing the--rocket?
Re-inventing the--rocket?
Re-inventing the--rocket?
Those of us who grew up with Carl Sagan’s Cosmos (and, more recently, devoured the remake with Neil De Grasse Tyson) cannot forget the story of the Library at Alexandria, unequaled repository of knowledge in the ancient Mediterranean, destroyed by a mob drunk on devotion to dogma and proud of their own ignorance, the librarian murdered in the street, irreplaceable and priceless works of all disciplines lost forever. The point, of course, was that knowledge can be lost to humanity. The accumulation of knowledge over generations and across geographical and cultural barriers is not guaranteed. It is vulnerable, and must be protected.