...wrong! Came the twentieth century and the revolutions of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics which disposed of the comfortable certainties of Kelvin for ever. But now Physics and the scientific enterprise may indeed be over except for some wriggling. Not because we know everything, but because of deep flaws in human nature.

The early Christians were idealists. Motivated by a vision of faith, hope and charity, they formed into groups and grew in numbers. At some point they needed to be organised; bishops became necessary. And the bishops became leaders and got to wear pointy hats and long dresses, which meant that a certain sort of person joined up who wouldn't have been attracted in earlier days. But the lure of pointy hats, long dresses and telling other people what to do is irresistible to a certain sort of mind, not a particularly idealistic sort, and the Catholic Church came into existence. The Catholic Church burned Giordano Bruno at the stake for declaring that the stars were suns like ours and might have planets like Earth. It is hard to see Jesus Christ thinking this a good idea. The church had some connection with the ideals that motivated the early Christians, but it also had autonomous objectives instantly recognisable to the Sanhedrin that Christ himself castigated.

We have seen this happen many times. A university was originally a collection of scholars who ran things for their own benefit: they pursued knowledge and taught students in order to fund that pursuit. A man at the back of each lecture class carried a hat around...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



More articles from Quadrant
Glass Slipper.(Poem), December 01, 2007
In at the beginning.(Book review), December 01, 2007

Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.

Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication name or publication date.

About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company analysis or best practices in managing your organization, Goliath can help you meet your business needs.

Our extensive business information databases empower business professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible, authoritative information they need to support their business goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting, company research or defining management best practices - Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.