Why It Took Centuries to Invent Science - Ada Palmer
Ada Palmer argues that the development of science required many more intermediate steps than commonly understood, comparing oversimplified historical narratives to saying Napoleon led to moon landings. She emphasizes that science needed a fertile environment including widespread book access, not just basic literacy.
Summary
Ada Palmer challenges the oversimplified narrative that science emerged simply because Renaissance scholars rediscovered ancient texts. She uses an analogy comparing this oversimplification to claiming that Napoleon's rise directly led to moon landings, pointing out that we recognize the missing steps in modern history but fail to do so for earlier periods. Palmer argues that new ideas and ways of organizing society require fertile environments that take time to develop. She explains that you need sufficient books in circulation before you can have scientific journals, and that people often mistakenly think higher literacy rates create more books rather than the reverse. Using Florence as an example, she notes that despite a 90% male literacy rate driven by merchant activities requiring letter-writing and account-keeping skills, very few people actually read books. Palmer draws a distinction between basic literacy and 'book literacy,' comparing it to how some people watch television but not films while others consume lots of films. She concludes that science depends on this transformation from basic literacy to access to broader intellectual worlds encompassing scientific, legal, and other domains of knowledge.
Key Insights
- Palmer argues that the common narrative 'Renaissance scholars rediscovered ancient texts, then we got science' is an oversimplification that skips crucial intermediate steps
- Palmer claims that people mistakenly think higher literacy rates create more books, when actually the relationship works in reverse
- Palmer points out that Florence had a 90% male literacy rate because everyone in the merchant world needed to send letters and read account books
- Palmer distinguishes between basic literacy and 'book literacy,' noting that very few literate Florentines had actually read books
- Palmer argues that science is predicated upon multiple other developments that transform literacy into access to scientific, intellectual, and legal worlds of ideas
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] Sometimes there are more steps to something than you think. In the Renaissance, they rediscovered these ancient texts and then we got science. And that's true, but it is an oversimplification and too wide a zoom. And if I said the French Revolution, Napoleon rose to power and spread nationalized warfare across Europe and then we landed on the moon, I've skipped some steps. And we know that about modernity, but we don't remember that about earlier periods. for new ideas to flourish and new ways of running the world to happen. You need a fertile [0:30] environment. It takes a while to get enough books. You can't publish a scientific journal until there are journals. People talk about…
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