An Empire of Learning

The Royal Society of London, established on November 28, 1660, emphasized the "improving of natural knowledge". They "pursued knowledge through direct experiment". Basically, they looked toward the future in gathering knowledge instead of embracing "old theory". Throughout the years, this Royal Society was able to produce many innovations and contribute in the advancement of science and technology. This Society still flourishes today.

What's interesting to me concerning this society is how much this DigiCiv class relates to it. In this class, we are learning about the past and how we've been able to advance to this present state, but we are also trying to embrace the many technological tools available today. We are improving upon "natural knowledge", which in today's world is typically based around technology.

In the Royal Society packet, it mentions a "Christian virtuoso". It described this virtuoso as a "man of birth, means, merit, brains, and leisure". I couldn't help think of politicians when reading this. Although not all politicians must be a "man of birth", a requirement to become the President of the US is to be a natural born citizen. To have means would be having the power/ability to fulfill the roll of being a politician. I would assume means would equate to money. Brains, that's a given. What US citizen would want an average student leading/representing him? Leisure, the tabloids always have some picture or article whenever the President does something that the 'regular' people do. It's interesting to see how the "Christian virtuoso" applies to life in today.

What intrigued me the most about this Royal society was the "cabinet of curiosities". The article describes it as "a closet or small room in which were arranged, and proudly displayed, antiquarian objects, scientific specimens, anything whose interest might arouse interest". It stated that the history of museums began within these cabinets. It's a fun fact to know the origins of how museums came to be.