The brain trust got together the other day. That’s always a dangerous thing. Not really danger, but the conversations that come out of a meeting of the brain trust is a lot like riding a horse without a bridle; you don’t know where you are going.
The brain trust got started on some history. Actually, the Title of this article is from the book, “History of Civilization by Will Durant”. The Life of the Mind chapter is about Hindu Science. The time frame is about 425 BC. The brain trust all agreed that there were some smart guys back then.
“The greatest of Hindu astronomers and mathematicians, Aryabhata, discussed in verse such poetic subjects as quadratic equations, sines, and the value of pi; he explained eclipses, solstices and equinoxes, announced the sphericity of the earth and its diurnal revolution on its axis.” While this was going on in India, the Greeks were hard at work doing the same type of thing. Just getting this information collated and translated to English is a testament to the genius of Will Durant.
Then the brain trust took off. Just imagine the things that were going on back then. Civilization is learning all sorts of things from astronomy to commerce. Everyone in the brain trust is amazed at the discussion of what was going on in Greece and India. Stuff like this was also being figured out in China, Europe and wherever a large group of people gathered and learned.
What really got the discussion amped up was the fact we were reading about and discussing all this scientific advancement in English. How did we get this information? It is amazing that we can learn about many things but we only read about it in English. Nobody in the brain trust speaks or reads another language.
Then we had to admit that there is much more to learn and see and do and all these information could be in other languages. Whew! There is so much to learn. When you think about one guy learning and documenting things such as the changing of the tides, phases of the moon keeping up with all that and writing it out so we can understand it; it is easy to be overwhelmed by what we can learn.
Twenty five hundred years have passed. The brain trust was amazed that people were able to figure out things like this with simple tools and methods.
Then was the assignment to learn more about these things. Phases of the moon for example, you can look in the newspaper and see when a full moon would be, but these early scientists kept up with the changes and deduced how these things worked.
This just shows us that we could be doing a lot more if we only would. Information seems to be all around us but we don’t make very much use of it.
The brain trust meeting ended. One guy was going to check on finding out more about Hindu Science. He knew a guy that had information of the building of buildings and the advancements made in ancient India. He was going to tell us about something interesting things when the brain trust next met.
Of course, we all said we would find out about the quadratic equations. I personally wish I had paid more attention in math class. With all this in one meeting, think what else could be out there? We only read it in English and there could be so much more in other lands and other times.
Think what else could happen if another smart guy studies something and has the gumption to write it down. I just hope he writes it in English.
