The 1492 Question and the Needham Puzzle

Abstract

Since most laypeople are born into a knowledge economy and have only lived in a sea of modern knowledge, they tacitly assume that the advancement of knowledge is natural. With some exceptions, most social scientists have similarly been unable to dislodge this assumption in their theorizations.

The cause and root of all evils in the science is this—that while we falsely admire and extol the powers of the human mind we neglect to seek for its true helps.

—Francis Bacon, 1620, The New Organon