Quote Of The Moment

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Rodibidably

“Science has done more for the development of Western civilization in one hundred years than Christianity did in eighteen hundred.” ~ John Burroughs

About Rodibidably

Jeff Randall is a frequent volunteer for free-thought organizations, including the Center For Inquiry – DC. Having been blogging since January 2008, he decided that a community of bloggers would be an interesting new experience (or at the very least a fun way to annoy his friends into reading his posts more frequently). Since finding out about about the existence of, and then joining, the atheist/skeptic community in 2007 he has been committed to community activism, critical thinking in all aspects of life, science, reason, and a fostering a secular society.
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6 Responses to Quote Of The Moment

  1. Tana says:
    June 10, 2010 at 10:07 am

    This comment is so true. When you look at human history (and particularly, the history of Western civilization), the acceleration of progress over the last 300-400 years is just astounding…especially during the Industrial Revolution (roughly 1750-1850) and the technological revolutions of the 20th century. This is why universities divide “Western Civ” classes into “Til 1600” (give or take a century) and “After 1600”! 🙂

    It’s really quite amazing when you think about it…hell, it’s amazing what has come along during my own lifetime. Being the nerd that I am, I was actually thinking about this on my commute…how much further can science take us during the rest of my years? What will we have 10/25/50 years from now that we could never have imagined?

    Reply
    • Jeff Randall says:
      June 10, 2010 at 10:34 am

      I’ve always thought that people born in the late 1800s / early 1900s saw the most change in their own lifetime. Planes, cars, Radio, TV, computers, atomic bombs, etc…

      To look at what we’ll have in the future (or at least one person’s view on that), check, out, Ray, Kurzweil…

      Reply
  2. Tana says:
    June 10, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    Ok…I will, check out: Ray; Kurzweil – then. 😛

    For a great example of living through some amazing things, let’s take our friend Bertrand Russell (1872-1970). He was exceptionally long-lived, but think of all he got to see the development of: electricity, air conditioning, wireless, radio, telephones, cars, planes, motion pictures, commercial refrigeration, polio vaccines, penicillin, robots, cameras, radar, television, microwaves, the pill, microchips, the bomb, artificial hearts and…he got to see a man walk on the muthaf*ckin’ moon! That…is mind-boggling.

    Reply

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