December 07, 2019
Ideas are abstract, immaterial, in principle immortal. Objects are mutable; objects degrade and scatter; they crumble at our touch. Not one of them will last forever. How funny, then, that the way we learn about the deep human past is from objects. Few ancient objects reach us, but fewer ancient ideas still.
For the self-styled bearers of intelligence, is this not a scandalous admission of our limited powers?