The Pope's no to the People's yes. The tide of British History. (2)

                                             Newton's telescope and...

                                             Hooke's microscope...
                                                       as above, so below ?

        The year of 1660, saw the restoration of the monarchy with the crowning of Charles II. A country still dealing with the grinding of great religious tectonic plates and over ten years of Cromwellian puritanism accepted the new king as a necessary stabilising force.
         The English tree of knowledge sprang forth refreshed; as 1660 also saw the founding of The Royal Society, or, to give it its more explanatory title:  The Royal Society of London for the improvement of Natural Knowledge .  
         England may have had a monarch once more, but the tide of communication could not be stopped.  This is evidenced by The Royal Society's motto: Nullius in verba (Take nobody's word for it.)  The idea  now  was to gain knowledge through experiment. The idea of simple authority as the arbiter of things, for so long a mainstay of all human culture, was beginning to slowly drown beneath the wash of new ideas.
         One of the aims of the Royal Society would be to continue the work of Francis Bacon, who was hugely influential in developing what would become standard scientific methodology: starting with a hypothesis (an idea that offers an explanation of something), you conduct experiments to gain information to support your idea. 
        Science became better communication. God might refuse to answer questions, but the Universe much more generously began to spill her secrets once engaged in constructive conversation.
        As the reign of the the merry monarch took shape, the natural philosophers of the nation were merrily digging up new information and new ideas using the latest technology. Isaac Newton developed his telescope and used it to reflect his theories of gravity and planetary motion, while Robert Hooke would publish his book Micrographia, which contained drawings and notes on the  world of the small that had previously been hidden in plain sight:

          Johnathan Swift would express the new, dizzying vistas being opened up with-                             
                                So nat'ralists observe, a flea
                                Hath smaller fleas that on him prey;
                                And these have smaller fleas to bite 'em
                                And so proceeds ad infinitum.

        As the 17th century drew to a close, people were reaching the conclusion that, in a land of many religious ideas, tolerance might be a good and practical idea. Charles II himself was of this view and 1689 would see John Locke write his "letter concerning toleration" .
        Fine words unfortunately are apt to achieve little without action, and the kind of people who push tolerance only for their own beliefs became very worked up by the ascension to the throne of James II in 1685, because of his Catholic tastes and perceived French friendliness. This agitation  would result in the glorious revolution of 1688 when William of Orange would lead a Dutch invasion fleet as he was welcomed by his English supporters.
        John Locke could be criticised for being slow to publish, but the fact remains that the simple seed of tolerance is, in all places and all times, often difficult to cultivate. It is impossible to cultivate without better communication.

        There would, however, be some successful harvesting of tolerance as,  no longer wasting as much time arguing or fighting about how best to praise God, the British entering the 18th century were now set free to fervently worship Mammon.
      

                                          Mammon: always plenty of interest.

    As the century turned, the newly formed Bank of England, would funnel the necessary cash to re-build England's navy after recent defeats to France. This re-armament, along with the boost for associated industries, would show the great financial importance of a strong attack force. (In more modern times, this kind of economic model would have to be sold to the people as defence, an illuminating example of linguistic legerdemain. Of course, if you train people not to ask or check, then this kind of thing is a whole lot easier).
    The 18th century would see the first turnings of the Industrial Revolution as time and tide would combine to produce new wonders, technological marvels,  and basically a whole lot of  machines that would spin gold.
    All of this industry would be floated on the new freedom of information. The first years of the century would see the first daily newspapers begin to be published in England. Not long after, the fruits of the new science would be the likes of the steam engine, the mercury thermometer, and the diving bell.  Science had enslaved Vulcan, and was challenging Neptune.
    During  this frenzy of invention the very country itself was forged anew as the Kingdom of Great Britain came into being in 1707.
   Naturally, people had to try to deal with this deluge of information and ideas, and, as always, human beings would create invented worlds that could mirror and reflect on what was happening in the real world.
    1719 saw the publication of Robinson Crusoe , and five years later Gulliver's Travels would be Swift's response to both Crusoe and the brave new world he represented. Both of these novels  would show men cast adrift and their struggle to survive in unknown waters.  Crusoe  is a more straight-forward tale, that can be interpretated as a description and vindication of the justness of Protestant Anglo-Saxon colonisation.  Gulliver's travel's, on the other hand, is a Houyhnhnm of a different colour, and raises the explanatory art of satire to new, Laputian heights.
     Gulliver encounters the tiny people of  Lilliput who have huge differences of opinion over which end of an egg should be broken first. You can imagine the hero's shocked disbelief mirroring that of a Japanese being informed that both Catholics and Protestants are Christians.
     And when Gulliver visits Laputa, he finds a society obsessed with science, but unable to turn it to practical purpose. (A reasonable criticism that is still valid today, as the defence industries still continue to dominate far too much scientific research).
      Swift was satirising the Royal Society and its random experiments, but a lot of valuable knowledge has been gained by people's natural sense of random experiment. Indeed, we often can not predict the results of our experiments, or even clearly explain where our own ideas have come from: Swift's own religious liberty flowered on the same tree of knowledge that was now producing new branches of science.
        

                                               Science: just pi in the sky?

  The natural worries of those like Swift would continue to occur throughout British history, and will certainly continue into the future. It was, and is, perfectly normal for science's scattered bags and opened, discarded cans to demand scrutiny. But the cats have long spread out and are breeding,  and the worms are slowly but surely burrowing into secret places. Communication's rise can be hindered but not stopped; and in the Britain of the 18th century, not just the British Navy's, but all the country's boats were being lifted and moved by the steady waves of commerce, intellectual freedom and technology.   
    Like all tides, the swell of the British Enlightenment might retreat for a while but it always came back strong again. It would push on around the globe.
    The strength of this massive liquid movement would eventually push great pieces of the tree of knowledge into the Atlantic and carry them across to the New World of the Americas. There, the tree of knowledge would be eagerly transplanted into new and fertile ground where it would flourish even better than before.
    For the natural culmination of Britain's tide of communication would literally require a New England.



                                                

The Pope's no to The People's yes: The tide of British History. (1).

       '

                                             Henry VIII.- Hampton Court?
                                             No, it's just his new codpiece.

     In its history, Britain (largely England for this period) has been invaded by Romans and Normans, and bossed about by Angles, Saxons and Danes. It has been riven by religious strife and convulsed by civil war and revolution. So how did this "miserable little island off the coast of France" as Frank Zappa called it, manage to develop, by the 19th Century, into the greatest power in the world?
     One of the most important factors in tracing the development of British power is the English Reformation. This action would provide the broad root that would twist, turn and ultimately support the growth of the English oak over the next 100 years. For the step away from traditional thought freed up new information and new ideas,  and  growth is impossible without these things. 
     In 1527, Henry VIII asked Pope Clement VII to annul his own marriage to Catherine of Aragon, his first wife. The King was desperate for a male heir and wished for a new wife to provide that heir (ironic, considering how well his daughter Elizabeth would do as Queen.) The Pope's subsequent refusal led to Henry withdrawing The Church of England from the authority of Rome.
     The context of the times was the Renaissance, when there was an influx of ancient Greek ideas and scholars to Europe. Information, like type and people, had become much more movable, and following inevitably behind new information were new ideas:

                                                        
         
       The English Reformation would turn out to be one of Henry's most important children. With the Pope no longer able to influence England, the country had gained a powerful and important independence, it now had the freedom to explore many new avenues.
    So it was, with the death of Henry, England, in its wisdom, crowned his 9 year old son as Edward VII.   
     During young Edward's six-year reign Protestantism was firmly established as the ruling creed. Until a few years later when Bloody Mary, happily burning Protestants at the stake,  re-established  Roman Catholicism as the correct and Holy ideas to live by.
     All of that would, in turn, be reversed when Mary's half-sister became Elizabeth I in 1558.
     After this swaying back and forth between the religious poles, Elizabeth's reign would provide a fortunate period of stability that allowed more growth.
     The maelstrom of swirling thought created by the previous monarchs produced  waves in the culture great enough to support the rise of English drama. The great writers of the time naturally produced works that addressed recent history, and Shakespeare in particular developed stories and characters that spoke to, and of, the swirling information and ideas of the times:
 
              
                 "O Wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here.
                         How beauteous mankind is!
                              O Brave new world that has such people in't!"

        Independent of Rome, the beauteous English would use their new freedom to attack the other great powers and their allies and holdings. For people from Plymouth to Newcastle, the famous sailor Sir Francis Drake would be a national hero. In Spain he was simply described as: "a pirate." International affairs remain broadly similar today.

       

    After Elizabeth came James I, whose patronage of the world of letters would produce the most famous translation of Christian scripture: The King James Bible.
    The information contained within the most important book in the country was becoming freely available to all who could read. Naturally enough, this new bay of information combined with all the religious earthquakes of the preceding decades to produce a tsunami powerful enough to wash across the land, leaving strange new sects and never-before seen cults wriggling in its wake.
     Those referred to as Puritans would flourish in this fertile ground of early 17th century England as bishops, ministers and lay-people all argued over the correct interpretation of God's word. This tide of un-orthodox thought would eventually rise high enough to engulf the Crown itself;  Charles I would reign in a land which had moved on from asking: Do we need a Pope? to: Do we need a King?
     Charles didn't help his own cause by exclaiming: "Kings are not bound to give an account of their actions but to God alone." On an island now set in surging seas of increased communication, James' refusal to explain himself set him firmly against the tide of history.

     The English Revolution of 1640-1660 saw the execution of Charles I and  Oliver Cromwell take power. His governance of the country would be essentially fascistic with his belief that, guided by God, he should oversee a land where: "A nobleman, a gentleman, a yeoman, the distinction of these: that is a good interest of the nation, and a great one." Domestic affairs remain broadly similar today.
      Fascists are fundamentally anti-communication, and Cromwell ordered the closure of all the theatres to ensure that no naughty and satanic ideas could fester on the open stage. Laws such as this, as well as those preventing the celebration of Christmas and the playing of football on a Sunday would, in fact, quite naturally only ensure that the country would eventually tire of Cromwell's reign. The nation would sway back again towards the crown with the restoration of Charles II.
      Britain, by the end of the 17th Century was profiting from conquest and trade and had a culture that had evolved to cope with a plurality of views. It was a place where describing and explaining and asking and checking  were practiced as much as anywhere on the planet, and this gave it the right soil from which could spring the first shoots of modern science.
      The bonds of religion, loosened throughout the previous 100 years, were now lax enough to allow many cats to slip out of all kinds of bags.
      And all around the country, the natural philosophers were busy opening cans containing all manner of worms.
   

Love is like Phlogiston - science as better communication.

                                         
                                                    Sophia- Pneumatic

       Every year, between the start of July and the end of August, Japan's Mt Fuji is alive with city-dwellers determined to conquer the famous peak. At this time, the shops on the slopes of the volcano do a roaring trade in small cans of oxygen as even the most unenlightened of Tokyo troglodytes recognises the need for this vital gas to keep our body working.  
         If, however, you were attempting to climb Mt Olympus in ancient Greece and felt the same need for a shot of 02, the locals would probably politely suggest that you suck in some of the plentiful supply of pneuma that is all around you, as that's clearly all that a body needs.

                         Communication is always INFO ---------> IDEA

          Wherever we may be from, all of our ancestors long ago looked up at the Sun, the Moon and the Stars and tried to offer each other explanations.  Understandably, considering the demanding circumstances of their lives, these explanations were largely about a god or gods who were quick to anger and whose opaque schemes for human-kind were largely inexplicable. Given the information they had to work with, I can only admire their ingenuity in coming up with anything at all.
           And yet, at the same time, these people were naturally developing certain techniques and methods that would serve them brilliantly for survival. They learned how and where to catch food and which plants to eat or use as medicine, as well as developing cultural ideas and habits that would contribute to the prosperity of the group. They were successful largely because they communicated knowledge to each other and to the next generation. Human beings over time developed the four most basic tools of human communication:-

                             Describing + Explaining + Asking + Checking

      Of course, it is much easier to use these tools when you are not worrying about food or the proximity of sabre-tooth tigers to your infants. So communication took great leaps and bounds when societies were forged that allowed people the time to just sit around and think and to be able to discuss their ideas at length. In  places like ancient Greece, where farming had led to the development of civilisation, people began to propose ideas about how things worked that went beyond formerly simplistic explanations like: "It's God!".
    Theories about the human body and society and the mind were all described and explained as fully as was possible, as reason and inquiry were allowed to flourish and philosophy was allowed to grow.
     Philosophy or the love of wisdom, may be best described as: trying to understand how things work. Defined like this, it allows us to see that philosophy is vital to human survival and prosperity. The desire to understand how things work has given us all the benefits of modern life.  Also, we can understand that throughout history all cultures have basically sought the same targets of philosophy: survival and prosperity; so that we should not consider philosophy to be only the sport of ancient g(r)eeks.
             For philosophy you need to communicate, and we are all born with the ability to communicate. Philosophy is our birth-right. It is our cultures that strip this from us. Gradually, over human history, our cultures have become more tolerant of communication, more welcoming to philosophy, but it is still early days considering the possibilities before us.

          
           INFO--------> IDEA  therefore  more INFO--------> more IDEA

          

                                              What's the bleeding time?
                                      
        England, at the end of the 17th Century, thanks to some lucky accidents of history and certainly not to any superiority of English blood,  was enjoying the fruits of its empire. One of the most succulent of these growths upon the tree of knowledge would be the development of what is often referred to as the scientific revolution.
        Using a commercially-available microscope, the English Physician William Harvey observed the hearts of insects acting as pneumatic pumps. From these observations of our tiny cousins, Harvey developed his theory of blood circulation. It is sobering to consider that a reasonable theory of how our blood works within us is only 300 years old.
        Any theory is most simply an explanation. If people are communicating effectively then any explanation will be naturally met by questions asking for more information or checking an idea.     Harvey was able to provide the information gained from his observations with the microscope as well as describing and explaining how blood flows by way of experiment. The use of an experiment allows other people to check the information and the idea. The modern practice of science requires describing and explaining and asking and checking as standard. Thus it can be seen that "the most precious thing we have " as Einstein said of science, describes as well our best efforts to communicate.

            This dawn of reason, this era of Halley, Harvey and Hooke, would come to be seen as the time of transition from alchemy to chemistry; when natural philosophy became science.  But, whatever you want to call it, it seems fair to say that, most basically, the explanations got better.
         In 1667, a learned person attempting to get the better of any mountain in Japan or Greece or anywhere, may well have wondered about the new-fangled theory of Phlogiston as they attempted to light a fire to keep warm on the slopes. This theory attempted to explain what happened during combustion by describing an element called phlogiston that was responsible for how well things burned. Until the end of the next century, phlogiston would provide the best explanation that people could come up with.
        The phlogiston theory would sputter on for a hundred years until the French scientist  Antoine Lavoisier  defined both oxygen and hydrogen and his experiments involving H2O would help explain how it was that oxygen  was the key to understanding combustion.
        Phologiston's spark was no more, ironically snuffed out by oxygen.  Lavoisier himself would meet his own fate at the mercy of a Revolutionary court, that would see fit to put him to death for the heinous crime of adultering the nation's tobacco supply. With water.
       
      If we wish to avoid a future where knowledge and information is feared and those who seek to understand and explain are considered too dangerous to live, we must encourage science.
      Science, however, can only flourish through better communication. Whether it be improved instruments to provide better information  or encouraging a culture where people can ask questions or provide alternative explanations without fear of an inquisition,  science, or indeed, the love of wisdom is most simply an ongoing conversation with the universe.
         As the universe is a little shy at times and reluctant to explain itself, doesn't it make sense for human beings to be encouraging as many people as possible to be involved with this conversation? As one of the finest examples of the only thing we ever do, science is way too important to be left to just those who get paid for it. Or those who seek only profit from it.
               

                                      According to Sweet, Love is like Oxygen.