KFL@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU ("Keith F. Lynch") (03/13/86)
"Fossil" isn't the right word. But it is clear what Bronowski (are you sure it wasn't Sagan?) means. If we were to colonize space, the working language would be English and they would fly the U.S. flag. Even if they eventually had a revolution, they would still speak the same language and think the same sorts of thoughts and have a constitution and free elections and private enterprise and they would eat potato chips and ice cream. We owe a lot to Homer and Euclid. But their culture is long gone. The last vestige fell in 1453 with the sack of Constantinople. Our civilization, and that of the Soviet Union and of Japan are much more the inheritors of Euclid than anyone in Greece today. Greece has no space program and will not have any space colonies. Neither will Troy, Egypt, Ghana, Babylon, Tyre, Carthage, or Rome. The fact that in some cases there are still countries or cities with these names has nothing to do with it. The fact that they are remembered by us and helped inspire us has nothing to do with it. They are gone. Lets not let the same thing happen to us. Lets not leave space to the other nations. ...Keith