Now that I've started reading the actual history part of A History of Reading, I've realized how much of the past actually catches up with the future. Reading through the process of how thinkers attempted to understand the way our sight worked, I waited and waited for the answer to come years in the future. In reality, there had actually been some really accurate answer located in writings from the past. I think it's so wonderful that past information doesn't just become obsolete, the way technology does. With technology, if it is not the newest thing on the market, the product value actually goes down. But with proven facts or just theories, there is always a time to question them or to find new information that adds onto those ideas. Anyone who discovers something or proves something should feel eternally valuable because their ideas will never become obsolete.
I feel like we should all strive to discover something or to prove something in life because our legacy will never die. The world will never lose its thirst for new information, which is a beautiful thing. The world will always continue to grow intellectually.
While I completely agree with your statement that anyone who discovers something should always feel valuable, doesn't it strike you as ironic that society so quickly forgets these people? Because it is always the "next best thing" that is usually valued more over the important fundamentals that were discovered first. I think it's important that while we all should strive to discover or create something new, we should never forget or ignore where the basis of our discoveries came from. For example, many people built off of Aristotle's work in understanding vision. But it was not immediately someone's else's idea like it is today: it was still, originally Aristotle's, that they themselves built on top of.
ReplyDelete