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1、Chapter10EpilogueHowhumanscommunicatetheirknowledge:fromPrometheustoMersenneandTedNelson,throughIncamessengers,carrierpigeons,andtheWeb.1Afterhavingcommunicatedfromtimeimmemorialusingsound,mankinddiscoveredwriting.AccordingtoAeschylus,Prometheustaughtwritingtom
2、ortalsasjustoneofmanyusefularts,besidesgivingthemthe restolenfromheaven.AsapunishmentZeuschainedhimtoarockwhereaneagleperpetuallyconsumedhisliver;andtherePrometheuslamentedhisfate:....Theyhadneitherknowledgeofhousesbuiltofbricksandturnedtofacethesun,noryetofwor
3、kinwood;butdweltbeneaththegroundlikeswarmingants,insunlesscaves.Theyhadnosigneitherofwinterorof
oweryspringoroffruitfulsummeronwhichtheycoulddepend,butmanagedeverythingwithoutjudgment,untilItaughtthemtodiscerntherisingsofthestarsandtheirsettings,whicharedicult
4、todistinguish.Yes,andnumbers,too,chiefestofsciences,Iinventedforthem,andthecombiningofletters,creativemotheroftheMuses'arts,withwhichtoholdallthingsinmemory.2SoPrometheusgavemathandwritingtomortals,thelattertoholdallthingsinmemory."ForacontemporaryZeusthiswoul
5、dhavebeenthemostoutrageousgift,apttoraisethehumanstothelevelofthegods.Culturalanthropologists,ofcourse,claimthatthingswentalittledi er-ently;buteverybodyagreesthatthebirthofwritingmarkedarevolutionarystepinthedevelopmentofmankind.Avirtuallyendlesschainofinforma
6、-tioncouldberecordedandmadeavailableforindividualstudy,andthenewmediumalsofavoredthedevelopmentoflogicalthinking,althoughSocrateswasconvincedofthecontrary.3Dua-Khety,anEgyptianwriteroftheMiddle1Finallywepresentachaptercontainingnomathematics.Thischapterisare
ec
7、tiononthepowerofcommunication,fromtheinventionofwritingtotheInternet.Thiskindofthinkingisopentoanyone:butperhapswithsomesolidmathematicalknowledgebehindus,amoreprofoundre
ectionmayemerge.2Aeschylus,Prometheusbound,http://classics.mit.edu/Aeschylus/prometheus.ht
8、ml3Plato,Phaedrus.191©2012byTaylor&FrancisGroup,LLC192MathematicalandAlgorithmicFoundationsoftheInternetKingdom,encouragedhissonPepytobecomeascribeexplainingthatthisisthebes
