We like to think that we are the residing beneficiaries of humankind's slow, lurching ascent from the fens of superstition toward the cool empyrean of reason. Isaac Newton said he stood on the shoulders of giants, the thinkers who preceded him, and we stand on Newton's, plus his successors'. Because of them, we can map the human genome system and fling spacecraft past Jupiter. We are much too busy and progressive, thank you, for the magic charms and potions and amulets that so bedazzled our dim ancestors. We clasp at this faith and manage to hold on in spite of the...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
