"Gordon Eklund - Serving in Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eklund Gordon)

unless it served some practical good. The smarter a society gets,
the dumber are its individual components."

Jan was hardly in the mood for listening to Phineas's
philosophical mutterings. "What does any of that have to do with
me?"

"Not a thing. But astronomyтАФnow that's as relevant to any
man as reading or writing or simple multiplication or learning
how to use an axe. What it teaches is humility. When I was a
boy, your father and I spent hours studying the stars and I think
that's a primary reason why he turned to science later in life. I'm
nothing but an amateur myself but I do know this: all men have
an ugly tendency that leads them into developing swelled heads.
They look at the earth beneath their feet and get to thinking they
are the lords of creation. If they'd ever look up thereтАФ" he
pointed into the sky "тАФthey'd learn better. If they knew what
they were seeing, they'd soon realize that their whole race is as
petty and infinitesimal as the fleas that cluster on a dog's back.
More so."

"It's just too vast for comprehension," Jan said, sucked into
the conversation despite his will. "That's the problem."

"I disagree," said Pbineas. "I think it's just the right size."

"But no one person can ever hope to understand it. What else
can you do except stand and stare and wonder?"

"That is my point. That is exactly what should be done. How
big is the universe? I'll answer that question. The answer is, I
don't know. And it's a good answer, too. All of the really
important questions are always answered that way: I don't
know."

"But wouldn't you like to know?"

"Sure. Who wouldn't? I'd like to know about spaceтАФ about
time, too. What is eternity? How did time begin? Where can it
possibly end?"

"I don't know," Jan said, with a wink.

"No, that's not right," Phineas corrected. "Time and space are
different."

"They are?-"

"Sure. HereтАФsit down." Phineas pointed to a log at the edge of
the path. They dropped down together. Phineas removed a cob