Star Gazing

Again, this weekend in Tuscany I had a revelation. A group from the institute went outside onto the grass in front of our picturesque rooms in order to talk and look at the stars. It was absolutely amazing. However, there were some lights on in the buildings so a few of us walked down to the lake for a better view. With the nature and the tranquility that surrounded me I couldn’t help but think how different it would have been in the Renaissance and before even, to find out the information that they did not using the internet or iPod apps. I have taken an astronomy course at GWU but it was either too long ago or I have lost all that I previously knew because I was not successful in finding constellations. I had to resort to using another student’s iPhone’s GPS locator in order to get my bearings and figure out where the little dipper was. In the Galileo Museum I watched a video that stated Galileo mapped out sun spots every day using a telescope. That is something I cannot even comprehend. The technology that we have today is outstanding but I do not think that we are more intelligent or advanced than the people of the Renaissance. I think that without their discoveries, whether they were wrong or not, we would not have been able to come as far as we have as a civilization. It is argued that our generation is more advanced but I don’t really think you can compare the two. I think that it is all a building process. One curious mind leads to another inquisitive mind after the first one makes a discovery. It is all about testing and hypothesizing and improving upon what was previously thought. We are living in different times. We cannot know what that civilization would have been capable of had they had the information that we do now. However, I do think that education is slipping because of some of the technology. I do not feel that I am as smart as my grandparents who can do things without the use of a graphing calculator. My spelling is awful because I can access spellcheck any time I want (and I do so frequently). So I guess what I am trying to get at (this is a very free flowing blog) is that we cannot compare this time period to previous ones because they are different. There are different circumstances and beliefs and restrictions for both of the different ages. However, I think that it can be argued that education is slipping despite, if not a direct cause of the advances we have made.