"At least those atoms whence derives their power
To throw forth fire and send out light from under
To shoot the sparks and scatter embers wide."
-- T. Lucretius Carus, philosopher poet, 54 B.C.
"... nobody remembers anything, not even poems." -- Jaime Manrique, author, 1999
No, they had plasma power from wimps who could not dig a trench.
ReplyDeleteShort answer: No.
ReplyDeleteHow about fire and hot iron and coal embers?
ReplyDeleteOIM,
ReplyDeleteLucretius identifies superstition (religio in the Latin) with the notion that the gods/supernatural powers created our world or interfere with its operations in any way. He argues against fear of such gods by demonstrating through observations and logical argument that the operations of the world can be accounted for entirely in terms of natural phenomena—the regular but purposeless motions and interactions of tiny atoms in empty space—instead of in terms of the will of the gods.
This includes wimps and chimps. And, evolution is a natural phenomena...
Quantum,
ReplyDeleteHow about fire and hot iron and coal embers?
This is a poem about fire, you're totally right. If you were a deluded nutcase, you might think it was an allusion to nuclear power.
But no one is that paranoid or stupid, are they?
QF,
ReplyDeleteA most excellent question!!!
Those who reject the existence of atomic power in the past should be consistent and say that fire and embers didn't exist in the past.
Jeffery,
ReplyDeleteCan you please show me one academic or scholar who has claimed that Lucretius's On The Nature of Things is "a poem about fire?"
Those who reject the existence of atomic power in the past should be consistent and say that fire and embers didn't exist in the past.
ReplyDeleteAnother "it is obvious" proclamation for the left-behind wimp...
It's a poem about atomic holocaust.
ReplyDeleteOIM,
ReplyDeleteYou wrote: It's a poem about atomic holocaust.
No it is not. It describes then knowledge of behavior of material, it is most observational and qualitative, and scientific as it is out there for all to read, duplicate processes if one understands, and it is not about gods or wimps, or atomic explosions...
You might want to call Lilly if they have experimental compounds they want to try out, you would be a fine candidate, and frankly, you would benefit even if they give you a placebo, because you believe beyond what is out there.
KV,
ReplyDelete"It describes then knowledge of behavior of material, it is most observational and qualitative, and scientific as it is out there for all to read, duplicate processes if one understands"
I agree with this.
@KV - OIM is a semantical spinner of words. I don't think it's his fault though, it's the ancient's faults for not being precise enough with their words and for not providing diagrams.
ReplyDeleteI recant thus: De Rerum Natura is not entirely about fire, but the passage you quoted is.
ReplyDeleteHe's talking about atoms, but he still didn't know exactly or more, than we do today.
When you dig up an Epicurean Hadron Collider, I'll buy it.
You'd better start now. I hardly think you'll have time to blog with all the shovelling you have to do.
Actually, you do a lot of shovelling these days, don't you?
QF,
ReplyDeleteNo amount of precision or diagrams including instruction manuals would help OIM, it is all greek to him!