Attributed to Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), the latin phrase “Eppur si muove“i was uttered by the great Renaissance astronomer at the conclusion of the Papal Inquisition forcing his denouncement of the heliocentric model in favour of the Church’s doctrinal geocentric worldview. Broadly viewed as a tipping point in the history of natural sciences and giant leap forward for the Nietzschean post-pious world, the sympathetic contrarian might actually ask: was the Church really wrong?
Sure, Galileo had a schmancy new model that more accurately predicted the regression of Venus or whatever, but what did his theories explain?ii After all, per David Deutsch, the progress of science towards understanding the fabric of reality is predicated on more than just Popperian falsifiable models, but of models that are explanatory. Y’know, like Murad’s Memecoin Supercycle model!iii
And speaking of explaining, absolutely none was required when The Girl was out of town this past weekend and I had the opportunity to take the boys to their first real karting session at SCR. Only the Spartan (now over 5′ tall and just having turned 9-years-old) was big enough to fit in the adult-sized machines, but the Athenian was a good sport about sitting in the pit lane and cheering us on. On the sighting lap, the Spartan passed me (aggressive!) but then quickly got lost on the byzantine in-field circuit, though we managed to recover and enjoy some modestly-paced laps, just as the glowing Fall sun was setting behind the wide Prairie horizon. The seal was broken on real karting — it was lovely — even if, in the end, it was a lot of effort to drive all the way out there with a couple of rambunctious young men just for a few minutes of outdoor entertainment. But what kind of example would I be setting if we just sat around the house while they played Minecraft and I doom-scrolled X?iv
Sometimes you just gotta get after it, y’know? Hot turkey! Or to quote William Blake for the second time in as many weeks:v
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
Prudence is a rich ugly old maid courted by Incapacity.
He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.
The cut worm forgives the plough.
Quia aratrum movet!vi
- “And still it moves”. ↩
- And at what cost? Of course this cost of going forward vs. staying still is the crux of the eternal debate between progressives and conservatives, though these labels that should not be confused for the degrowth vs. western values type debates you’ve been “taught” your whole life. ↩
- Murad, take it away!
- Though I have to say that X is starting to get pretty fun again: between the stand-up comedy and early crypto pump cycle, there’s a lot to like in as we near the 2024 US Election!
Trump is the wealthiest standup comedian of all time. pic.twitter.com/GJgdEHUvVX
— ᴍᴇᴅ ɢᴏʟᴅ 🐒 (@MedGold_) September 28, 2024
- From The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790). ↩
- Because the plough moves! ↩