The reason it continues to be one of the most successful science books of all time; Sagan, a leading astronomer, is also an expert communicator and storyteller. To explain why science is important in the modern age and to draw attention to the risks we face are just a few.
In addition to his scientific writings, Sagan is known for his contributions to the Viking Mars landers shown here. (NASA / JPL)
Instead of imagining a dystopian future, Sagan preferred to depict it using the historical past. A little more than 2000 years ago, the Greek colony in Ionia was transformed into a pre-scientific culture. And Alexandria, with its great library, was the intellectual capital of the world.
However, the scientific knowledge discovered in this age has been little developed. And in the following 15 centuries many were forgotten. It can be enlightening to learn about and understand things about the social forces that drive them into apathy, to make sure that a similar fate does not await modern society.
The First Scientists
The world’s first scientific culture (about 2,500 years ago), the Eastern Aegean Sea, the Ionian islands and established in which a Greek colony located between the coast (roughly today Turkey’s western coast). Ionia was at a trade crossroads between Greece and the East Asian Civilizations. Various cultures prevailed in this region as well as in such regions. Different belief systems were accepted. Physical cutting of the islands and entrances prevented a single worldview from dominating the region.
B.C. Around 600-400 BC a period known as the Ionian Awakening began. The Ionians have rejected superstition. And a remarkable idea emerged: The universe can be known. This idea also exhibits an inner order that allows the laws of nature to be revealed.
The thinkers of the time were the children of seafarers, farmers and craftsmen who were used to getting their hands dirty. They built and fixed things and understood how they worked. Experiments were invaluable in Ionia.
Ionian way of thinking; it led to the emergence of a number of important scientists and engineers. Thales of Mile was a geometry that tried to explain the world without superstition, using the length of a shadow and the angle of the sun above the horizon to determine the height of buildings.
Master engineer Theodorus; He is known for inventing the wrench, ruler, carpenter’s square, lathe, and even central heating. Empedocles; It proved that we live in an air atmosphere that we cannot see and often cannot feel, but that constantly puts pressure on us.
When asked about his purpose in life, Anaxagoras replied: “The study of the sun, the moon and the heavens.” He was the first to suggest that the moon is shining with reflective sunlight. And he developed a theory for its phases. Democritus invented the word ‘atom’. He dreamed of computing the volumes of shapes by cutting them into very few thin sheets and knocked on the door of integral calculus.
Great Library
Alexandria inherited the intellectual fire that was lit in Ionia. In this city founded by someone other than Alexander the Great, science and scholarship came spontaneously. Alexandar encouraged learning.
Although it is difficult to say which rumors are true; He is often known for going under the sea in the world’s first diving cell, welcoming different religions, and collecting exotic plants and animals, among other things. But Alexandria’s most important gem was that it had a magnificent library.
The library was originally built by the Ptolemaic dynasty, the Greeks who inherited the Egyptian part of Alexander’s empire. They spent a considerable amount of wealth to accumulate all the knowledge of the ancient world. The ships that approached the harbor would be searched for books, not for contraband.
The found parchments were painstakingly copied manually before being returned to their owners. The Ptolemies sent agents abroad to buy libraries. In one probably memorable event, they secured official state copies of ancient tragedies from the Athenians. And they left an enormous cash deposit and guaranteed the documents to be returned. Ptolomy valued knowledge more than gold and silver. The originals were stored in Alexandria. Copies were sent back to Athens.
New scientific knowledge was also produced in Alexandria. Here Eratosthenes made an accurate estimate of the earth’s diameter. And he argued that you can reach India by sailing west from Spain. Hipparchus thought that stars were being created, destroyed, and moving slowly in the universe for centuries. Euclid wrote a textbook on geometry that inspired Newton with Kepler 1500 years later.
The seeds of modern scientific knowledge were sown over 2000 years ago in Ionia and Alexandria. However, it was not revived until the Italian renaissance. So what happened? And what can these civilizations teach us about our potential futures?
What happened?
While the Ionians relied on experiments and observations to enact the laws of nature, Pythagoras taught that everything can be deduced by the power of thought. The sect was satisfied with the mathematical demonstrations. And he argued that the truth can only be understood from the human mind. Such information was generally considered dangerous and was hidden from the public.
Pythagoras did not advocate open discussion of contradictory points of view. In this way, they acted more like Orthodox rather than a scientific school of thought. These aspects of Pythagoreanism, the group’s correction of errors in thoughts, prevented progress in mathematics and science.
Various legends have been derived around Pythagoras, such as that Apollo was his son and once visited the underworld. His return is depicted in this 17th century painting. (wiki)
‘They did not advocate free confrontation of conflicting perspectives. Instead, like all Orthodox religions, they applied an impurity that prevents them from correcting their mistakes. ‘ – Carl Sagan. While thinking and philosophizing was considered the work of only the upper classes of society, any task related to dealing with your hands was reserved for slaves and workers.
According to Sagan, ‘Plato urged astronomers to think about the heavens but not waste time observing them’. Xenophon’s view, ‘The so-called mechanical arts, carries a social stigma. And it is not rightly accepted in our cities. ‘ In such an environment, the experimental and exploratory methods of the Ionian Awakening would have been impossible. Culture gradually led to stricter dogmas of people like Plato. And it didn’t come to light again until the Italian renaissance.
A similar fate would await the Library of Alexandria. The library did not burn in some horrible incidents, as was thought. It probably disappeared over time from lack of support and neglect. The decline of the library (around 145 BC) began with the expulsion of intellectuals from the city for political reasons.
Over the next few centuries, the library’s importance continued to shrink. Memberships dropped to zero around AD 270. Even if something remained of the buildings at that time, they were destroyed in 275, probably by a rebellion and imperial counterattack. The library remained a faded memory in memories.
‘I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness of the foundations of our culture and our interest in the future can be tested by how well we support our libraries .’– Carl Sagan
Inference
We have a choice to make today. We can be like Ionians or Alexandrians. And we can try to create a society open to new ideas and to benefit. Or we can choose to be like Plato with Pythagoras. ‘In suppression of disturbing facts; the sense that science should be hidden for the small elite, discontent with experimentation, and the embrace of mysticism… can repel human enterprise. ‘
Which one will you choose?
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