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From science fiction author Charles Fort in his 1931 book titled Lo! “If human thought is a growth, like all other growths, its logic is without foundation of

From science fiction author Charles Fort in his 1931 book titled Lo! “If human thought is a growth, like all other growths, its logic is without foundation of its own, and is only the adjusting constructiveness of all other growing things. A tree cannot find out, as it were, how to blossom, until comes blossom-time. A social growth cannot find out the use of steam engines, until comes steam-engine-time. For whatever is supposed to be meant by progress, there is no need in human minds for standards of their own: this is in the sense that no part of a growing plant needs guidance of its own devising, nor special knowledge of its own as to how to become a leaf or a root.

crabmusket 1y ago
I quite like this. While we experience our own thought process as unique, and see it that way in other people who come up with ideas we'd never have thought of, there is nevertheless an entire ecosystem around even the most brilliant genius. I also think there's something about the nature of reality which suggests that if we try, we will eventually discover what is there to be discovered. As David Deutsch puts it, "everything that is not forbidden by laws of nature is achievable, given the right knowledge". Of course the "invention" is about discovering the right knowledge, in what order and how we come about that. (And, to throw in a fun pet issue of mine, this infuriated me about Atlas Shrugged - the idea that solitary geniuses can invent mind-boggling technology and that therefore the rest of society needs to bow down to them. Like, no - once it was known that free energy could come out of the air, the world's scientists would be racing to reproduce this finding, and would probably do so in short order.)
- paulorlando 1y ago
  Discoveries unlock more discoveries. When, not if.
southernplaces7 1y ago
Just to defend his honor, Charles Fort was something considerably more than just a science fiction author, and "Lo" wasn't a science fiction novel at all.. If anything he was a historian of the perpetually strange curiosities that sometimes manifest in our world's corners. It's What he's really famous for.

crabmusket 1y ago

I quite like this. While we experience our own thought process as unique, and see it that way in other people who come up with ideas we'd never have thought of, there is nevertheless an entire ecosystem around even the most brilliant genius. I also think there's something about the nature of reality which suggests that if we try, we will eventually discover what is there to be discovered. As David Deutsch puts it, "everything that is not forbidden by laws of nature is achievable, given the right knowledge". Of course the "invention" is about discovering the right knowledge, in what order and how we come about that. (And, to throw in a fun pet issue of mine, this infuriated me about Atlas Shrugged - the idea that solitary geniuses can invent mind-boggling technology and that therefore the rest of society needs to bow down to them. Like, no - once it was known that free energy could come out of the air, the world's scientists would be racing to reproduce this finding, and would probably do so in short order.)

paulorlando 1y ago
Discoveries unlock more discoveries. When, not if.

southernplaces7 1y ago

Just to defend his honor, Charles Fort was something considerably more than just a science fiction author, and "Lo" wasn't a science fiction novel at all.. If anything he was a historian of the perpetually strange curiosities that sometimes manifest in our world's corners. It's What he's really famous for.