The end of the Twentieth Century invites a retrospective glance at humanity's accomplishments during the past hundred years. Which of our discoveries will schoolchildren (assuming there are any) study in 2101? Perhaps:
- incompleteness theorems — the limitations of formal systems and the existence of unprovable truths (with critical implications for computability)
- cosmology — the age, size, and structure of the universe
- nuclear astrophysics — the energy sources of stars and the origin of the elements
- special & general relativity — the dance of matter and energy, space and time, gravity and geometry
- quantum mechanics, electrodynamics, & field theory — the laws of the very small
- molecular biology — the chemistry of life (with huge benefits for food and health)
- mechanical, aeronautical, & electrical engineering — the development of marvelously efficient transportation, communication, and information systems
Quite a lot to be proud of! But what else can we hope to be remembered for? Which novels will be read? What art will be admired? And, to our embarrassment, which "triumphs" will turn out to be far more ephemeral than we can imagine today?
(See also EdgeOfTheUniverse, the 8 June 1999 ^zhurnal entry, and WorthRemembering2.)
Thursday, December 28, 2000 at 06:19:01 (EST) = 2000-12-28
(correlates: Comments on WorthRemembering1, InfiniteInAllDirections, EdgeOfTheUniverse, ...)