Silk Slippers of History

Voltaire* in the early eighteenth century asserted “history is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.”  While this metaphorical explanation for the rise and fall of civilizations is unpopular these days, I think it has significant merit in explaining societies' evolution.

Chasing New Horizons Review

There’s always something over the next hill, just beyond the horizon, and insatiable curiosity will one day propel us to find out what it is.  I think that’s why we read, why we hike, why we write, why we build robotic spacecraft with plutonium radioisotope thermoelectric generators: we’re always Chasing New Horizons.