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And right now we can have as full an understanding of science at they had without talking to anyone or sifting through private libraries spread through estates
by nico_h 6y ago
And right now we can have as full an understanding of science at they had without talking to anyone or sifting through private libraries spread through estates across the countries.
And we have a century more of understanding and refinements we can explore should we so desire, all at the press of a button.
They would only dream of the access to science and people we have now. Though twitter would be a poor medium to replace that era's epistolic cross-polination.
- Angostura 6y agoNot really no. A single person can no longer know, grok even the whole of biology, or even the whole of molecular biology. Just having a detailed understanding of all the proteins on a mitchondion is a tall order. Yes, you can look it up. But that's not the same as having an intuitive feel for all of science at the deepest level.
- whatshisface 6y agoThe parents point is that you can identically reproduce the state of knowing what an 18th century polymath knew, today, just by learning a tiny amount of each subject.
- Ericson2314 6y agoStill in the mold of https://hapgood.us/2015/10/17/the-garden-and-the-stream-a-technopastoral/ https://hapgood.us/2015/10/17/the-garden-and-the-stream-a-te..., we have accrued tons of "library debt" as we research more things but don't spend commensurately more effort organizing what we've learned. I would not be surprised if this was a huge contributor to the decreasing cost effectiveness of science.
- whatshisface 6y agoScientists put a lot of effort in to organizing what we know. Biologists and chemists invest heavily in web databases, and professors love to write books. How do you know that not enough effort is being put in to organization?
- Ericson2314 6y agoIt's best to read the 1st linked article and https://blog.khinsen.net/posts/2020/07/08/the-landscapes-of-digital-scientific-knowledge/ https://blog.khinsen.net/posts/2020/07/08/the-landscapes-of-... But if you want something shorter, ponder this: What percentage of journal article material makes it to textbooks, and how has that changed over time?
- mr_toad 6y ago> What percentage of journal article material makes it to textbooks I think that says as much about the quality of journal articles and academic incentives as much as anything.
- Angostura 6y agoAnd I really disagree.
- whatshisface 6y agoWhat are you suggesting, that some of the knowledge available in the 18th century has been forgotten?
- evilduck 6y agoWithout guidance of some sort, looking it up can be a challenge because you may not know what to search for and vetting new information for quality is its own problem too. A child on the internet today has to contend with deliberate science misinformation that tries very hard to look valid and authoritative (flat earthers, antivaxxers). This stuff is also likely to intersect with entertainment venues like YouTube and plant their ideas first where you then have to unteach the nonsense just to begin. Even as a science literate adult, navigating this with my children is hard because it brings difficult topics to the table well ahead of their age appropriate academic abilities traditionally prepare them for (religious motivations, philosophy, logic, history, etc).
- IggleSniggle 6y agoTwitter is a poor substitute, but HN is doing a pretty good job!