From: Harvey Newstrom (newstrom@newstaffinc.com)
Date: Mon Jun 07 1999 - 12:11:40 MDT
From: Michael S. Lorrey <mike@lorrey.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.com>
Sent: Monday, June 07, 1999 10:29 am
Subject: Re: racism pollutes the extropian list
> Carl Sagan observed that astronomy emerged out of astrology.
This is one of my interests, how science evolves from nonscience.
Astronomy evolved out of astrology. Chemistry evolved out of alchemy.
Cryptography evolved out of Numerology. Our understanding in each are of
science has evolved so far, that earlier understanding in each field are
today dismissed as ludicrous.
Dr. John Dee was an Elizabethan magician and astrologer. He developed the
method of astronavigation that allowed the British navy to go beyond the
horizon, consult the stars, travel out of sight of land, and then suddenly
pop into view of the exact shore they desired. At the time, this seemed
magical.
He also used numerology to find hidden meanings in ancient Kabalistic texts
and in the Bible. He used similar methods to develop uncrackable (for their
day) codes to encrypt military messages.
The great scientists we read about were not as scientifically rational as we
like to think today. Most books about them selectively edit their work to
only show the scientifically useful portions, while neglecting to mention
the others.
What I wonder about is this: Did John Dee really believe in astrology? Did
he predict events with astrology with the same mathematical precision that
he calculated global positioning? How can we separate one part of his work
as brilliant and another part of his work as bogus, especially when he
himself did not seem to make that distinction?
This kind of stuff also keeps me from getting too dogmatic in any field I am
in. My belief systems are fluid and must adapt to new information. No
system is perfect and pure, without contamination from preconceived ideas.
Many of the old beliefs may have been poorly expressed explanations
consistent with our understanding at the time.
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