Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The hand is the cutting edge of the mind

We have to understand that the world can only be grasped by action not by contemplation, the hand is more important than the eye. We are not one of those contemplative civilisations of the far east or the middle ages that believed that the world has only to be seen and thought about and who practised no science. [...]

Civilisation is not a collection of finished artifacts. It is an elaboration of processes - in the end, the march of man is the refinement of the hand in action.

The Grain in the Stone, The Ascent of Man - J. Bronowski

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