Revisit The Day The Universe Changed

 Ideas  

In the classic series, "The Day The Universe Changed," James Burke explores the evolution of Western scientific thought starting from the fall of Rome.

In the classic series, "The Day The Universe Changed," James Burke explores the evolution of Western scientific thought starting from the fall of Rome.

"The Day The Universe Changed," dives through periods in history when our view of the world shifted dramatically: in the eleventh century, when extraordinary discoveries were made by Spanish crusaders; in fourteenth-century Florence, where perspective in painting emerged; in the fifteenth century,

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when the advent of the printing press shook the foundations of an oral society; in the sixteenth century, when gunnery developments triggered the birth of modern science; in the early eighteenth century, when hot English summers brought on the Industrial Revolution; in the battlefield surgery stations of the French revolutionary armies, where people first became statistics; in the nineteenth century, when the discovery of dinosaur fossils led to the theory of evolution; and in the 1820s, when electrical experiments heralded the end of scientific certainty

Burke's thesis is that throughout our history there have been dramatic moments where certain special discoveries have been made, and that with these discoveries our view of the entire universe changed. In effect, the universe (or our view of it) is in a constant state of flux and at critical moments, is being re-invented (or recreated) while the previous version is abandoned forever. In a sense, the universe *is* at any moment *what we say it is*, with the constant threat of being destroyed, replaced by some other version *that we decide on*, later on.

What we take as "reality" therefore, is merely a construction of the human mind, and at best temporary; waiting to be replaced upon the next great discovery.

The Complete Series The Way We Are: It Started With The Greeks In Light Of The Above: Medieval Conflict: Faith and Reason Point Of View: Scientific Imagination In The Renaissance A Matter Of Fact: Printing Transforms Knowledge Infinitely Reasonable: Science Revises The Heavens Credit Where Its Due and Fit To Rule: Darwin's Revolution What The Doctor Ordered: Social Impacts Of New Medical Knowledge Fit To Rule: Darwin's Revolution Making Waves: The New Physics Newton Revised Worlds Without End: Changing Knowledge, Changing Reality

SOURCE  JamesBurkeWeb Channelle

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