The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch
by Lewis Dartnell
In "The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch," Lewis Dartnell explores the intricate relationship between scientific understanding, material availability, and technological advancement critical for rebuilding civilization after a catastrophic event. He emphasizes that having the correct scientific principles and innovative designs is insufficient without materials possessing the necessary properties and adequate power sources for construction. Dartnell delves into historical agricultural practices, highlighting the anachronism of continued reliance on animal power in the early 20th century, despite the availability of advanced machinery. This reflection underscores humanity's sometimes slow adaptation to new technologies. The author poses a thought-provoking question about preserving scientific knowledge post-cataclysm, referencing Richard Feynman’s atomic hypothesis as a concise encapsulation of fundamental scientific understanding. Additionally, Dartnell provides pragmatic survival advice, illustrating how resources within a supermarket could sustain an individual for decades, while stressing the importance of a balanced diet for health. Overall, the book underscores the urgency of understanding and preserving knowledge about materials and sustainability, advocating for a proactive approach to ensure the resilience and continuity of civilization in the face of potential global disasters, such as pandemics or other catastrophic events.
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Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch:
Correct scientific understanding and ingenious designs aren’t sufficient: you also need a matching level of sophistication in construction materials with the necessary properties and available power sources.
During the peak of animal use for agriculture in Britain and the United States, which surprisingly occurred as late as ca. 1915 (even though mobile steam engines had existed for fifty years and gasoline-powered tractors were already available), a full third of cultivated land was committed to the upkeep of horses.
In hypothesizing about the potential destruction of all scientific knowledge and what might be done about it, he allowed himself a single statement, to be transmitted securely to whichever intelligent creatures emerged after the cataclysm: What sentence holds the most information in the fewest words? “I believe,” said Feynman, “it is the atomic hypothesis . . . that all things are made of atoms—little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another.
