First posted on Cnetasia.com by GadgetGirl, Oct 29, 2009 20:33
Whenever thought is directed at something aged, one would never have expected a correlation to that of possessing a scientifically driven nature that is perhaps a little too close for comfort to our current “Super Highway of Technology” age.
Recently, after watching a documentary on the disappearance of the Lost Ark that was sporadically mentioned within the bible (think Indiana Jones, but with real-life experts endorsing its existence), which had mystified many archaeologists and treasure hunters alike due to its all-encompassing power of causing instant death (mostly bursting into flames) to all men who were not anointed as the dedicated keepers of the ark, this made me ponder over some of the outlandish claims that the documentary offered:
One being that it now resides in Ethiopia, on an obscure island where all its people reverently worshipped only this sole mystery relic and was causing all its guardians to fall ill and perish over a short period of time (namely three in passing over five years since the documentary was made), or that the ark was in fact a capacitor that was capable of generating high voltage through static electricity, mostly due to the dry climate and sheep wool that shielded its true glory.
The point that really struck me was not so much the fact that a wooden box made of acacia wood and gilded with gold could have caused radiation-like deaths. Or that it could literally waste a person’s life away instantaneously. But more so how we as modern scientific beings would actually propose such technologically advanced terminology on a sacred object made many thousands of years before our time.
I mean, come on, why is it so hard to accept that these predecessors of ours might have possessed science-related knowledge beyond our time?
Perhaps this question boils down to the inability to accept that we are not the most “important” of societies, and we are not the “IT” generation. Not that everybody wants to be in the middle of a possible apocalypse (imagine the number of times an apocalypse has been declared over the years, the most recent being 2012), mind you, but the fact that people like being the center of attention and knowing their life could potentially have an impact on history. I rest my case.
From the world’s greatest dictators who can best be compared with the likes of head bishops and team leaders who basically excel in doing one thing–gathering convocations of followers. And with these followers come the need to remain powerful, hence, setting off a spiral of unfortunate events, war, anarchy, a pursuit of advancing weaponry and arms, and even the concoction of science. If you add it all together, you have the formula for destruction and definitely Not World Peace.
So, if Science was always such a difficult commodity to introduce to the masses, why has it aided us so in modern-day life? We can hardly live without our cell phones, broadband lightning-fast Internet, social-networking platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, and of course, good old electricity.
From the ages before history was recorded to current catastrophically disastrous events brought about by political dissidents and war-stirring orators, the end point is simple. Where there is a congregation, there will be a power tussle. And who else but the strong and powerful who will emerge victor?
Think about this. Without technology or perhaps even alchemy which gave rise to the atomic bomb and medicine that our doctors prescribe to us to address physical and behavioral issues, would our present-day society be able to evolve as quickly as it did?
From the Super Highway of the 20th century to the ever-evolving 21st century, where did all this knowledge possible come from if it had not been inscribed in ancient books or passed down via word of mouth all these centuries ago?
Give respect where respect is due, and in this case, people have looked to religious materials, folklore and even legends to gather the essence of how Science may have evolved to what it is today. It does not mean we are smarter than the men who lived in ancient times, but that rather we are bodies of leisure and can very much choose to explore clues and works that they may have left behind for us to decipher and use to our advantage.
