03 APR 2011 by ideonexus
Alexandria's Promise of a Brilliant Scientific Civilization
;Only once before in our history was there the promise of a brilliant scientific civilization. Beneficiary of the Ionian Awakening, it had its citadel at the Library of Alexandria, where 2,000 years ago the best minds of antiquity established the foundations for the systematic study of mathematics, physics, biology, astronomy, literature, geography and medicine. We build on those foundations still. The Library was constructed and supported by the Ptolemys, the Greek kings who inherited the Eg...Carl Sagan recounts the destruction of science and enlightenment in ancient Alexandria at the hands of religious zealotry.
03 APR 2011 by ideonexus
The Intangible Nature of a Superstition Makes it Irrefutable
Fable should be taught as fable, myth as myth, and miracles as poetic fancies. To teach superstitions as truth is horrifying. The mind of a child accepts them and only through great pain, perhaps tragedy, can the child be relieved of them. Men will fight for superstition as quickly as for the living truth -- even more so, since a superstition is intangible, you can't get at it to refute it, but truth is a point of view, as so is changeable.
~ Hypatia of Alexandria (370 - 415 BC)A superstition cannot even be falsified.