I dream of a new age of curiosity. We have the technical means for it; the desire is there; the things to be known are infinite; the people who can employ themselves at this task exist. Why do we suffer? From too little: the channels that are too narrow, skimpy, quasi-monopolistic, insufficient There is no point in adopting a protectionist attitude, to prevent 'bad' information from invading and suffocating the 'good.' Rather, we must multiply the paths and the possibility of comings and goings.-- from The Masked Philosopher by Michael Foucault, quoted by Lorraine Daston and Katherine Park in an epigraph to Wonders and the Order of Nature.
H/t Philip Ball, who mentions this book as an inspiration for his recent work.
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