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Daedalus
Ever since the time of Berkeley it has been customary for the majority of metaphysicians to proclaim the ideality of Time, of Space, or of both. But they soon made it clear that in spite of this, time would continue to wait for no man, and space to separate lovers. The only practical consequences that they generally drew was that their own ethical and political views were somehow inherent in the structure of the universe.
48 pages, Paperback
First published February 4, 1923
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About the author
J.B.S. Haldane
79 books74 followersJohn Burdon Sanderson Haldane was a British geneticist, biometrician, physiologist, and popularizer of science who opened new paths of research in population genetics and evolution.
Son of the noted physiologist John Scott Haldane, he began studying science as assistant to his father at the age of eight and later received formal education in the classics at Eton College and at New College, Oxford (M.A., 1914). After World War I he served as a fellow of New College and then taught at the University of Cambridge (1922–32), the University of California, Berkeley (1932), and the University of London (1933–57).
In the 1930s Haldane became a Marxist. He joined the British Communist Party and assumed editorship of the party’s London paper, the Daily Worker. Later, he became disillusioned with the official party line and with the rise of the controversial Soviet biologist Trofim D. Lysenko. In 1957 Haldane moved to India, where he took citizenship and headed the government Genetics and Biometry Laboratory in Orissa.
Haldane, R.A. Fisher, and Sewall Wright, in separate mathematical arguments based on analyses of mutation rates, population size, patterns of reproduction, and other factors, related Darwinian evolutionary theory and Gregor Mendel’s concepts of heredity. Haldane also contributed to the theory of enzyme action and to studies in human physiology. He possessed a combination of analytic powers, literary abilities, a wide range of knowledge, and a force of personality that produced numerous discoveries in several scientific fields and proved stimulating to an entire generation of research workers.
Son of the noted physiologist John Scott Haldane, he began studying science as assistant to his father at the age of eight and later received formal education in the classics at Eton College and at New College, Oxford (M.A., 1914). After World War I he served as a fellow of New College and then taught at the University of Cambridge (1922–32), the University of California, Berkeley (1932), and the University of London (1933–57).
In the 1930s Haldane became a Marxist. He joined the British Communist Party and assumed editorship of the party’s London paper, the Daily Worker. Later, he became disillusioned with the official party line and with the rise of the controversial Soviet biologist Trofim D. Lysenko. In 1957 Haldane moved to India, where he took citizenship and headed the government Genetics and Biometry Laboratory in Orissa.
Haldane, R.A. Fisher, and Sewall Wright, in separate mathematical arguments based on analyses of mutation rates, population size, patterns of reproduction, and other factors, related Darwinian evolutionary theory and Gregor Mendel’s concepts of heredity. Haldane also contributed to the theory of enzyme action and to studies in human physiology. He possessed a combination of analytic powers, literary abilities, a wide range of knowledge, and a force of personality that produced numerous discoveries in several scientific fields and proved stimulating to an entire generation of research workers.
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August 17, 2025
Džon B. S. Holdejn je beskrajno zanimljiva ličnost – briljantan izumitelj, tvrdoglav, vedar i ekscentričan duh, posvećen eksperimentator i nesvakidašnji sintetičar, preobrazio je istoriju nauke toliko temeljno da njegove ideje ne doživljavamo sa čuđenjem kakvo zaslužuju. Holdajn je, tako, između ostalog, tvorac reči „klon”, tvorac ideje o primordijalnoj supi (čuvena Oparin-Holdejnova teorija) i neko ko je dao izuzetan i sveobuhvatan doprinos proučavanju evolucione biologije. Treba imati u vidu da je sve ovo postigao kao diplomirani klasičar, čije će obrazovanje prekinuti Prvi svetski rat, na kome je proveo još dve godine (!) nakon što se rat završio. Izbačen je sa Kembridža zbog ljubavi, vraćen, pa je odbio da se vrati i akademsko usavršavanje nastavlja u UCL-u. Potiče iz čuvene škotske porodice, a zanimljivo je da je njegov otac izumitelj respiratora. Uz to, imao je pregršt kontroverznih političkih stavova, od kojih se najviše ističe podrška Trofimu Lisenku, Staljinovom agronomu, koji je mnoge ljude u crno zavio. O svemu ovome, ali daleko razrađenije i sadržajnije, savršeno je govorio Milan Ćirković u okviru ciklusa predavanja o istoriji astrobiologije (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kRgl... ). Ukoliko budete imali prilike, obavezno pogledajte, uživaćete!
Da nije bilo Ćirkovićevog predavanja, verovatno nikad ne bih pročitao Holdenov esej, koji se pokazao kao divno čitalačko iznenađenje. Pre oko vek od današnjeg trenutka (1923), Holdejn je održao predavanje o viziji budućnosti u kontekstu naučnih otkrića. Tekst tog predavanja, uz male izmene, predstavlja „Dedala”, nevelik, ali sadržajan ogled neverovatnih ideja. Od ideja o radničkom samoupravljanju, obnovljivih izvora energije (naslutio je da ćemo morati napustiti ugalj i naftu), sve do genetičkog inženjeringa. Ovde sve vrvi od kontroverznih ideja i aktuelnih tema – od pojma ektogeneze (razvoj fetusa izvan materice) koji se prvi put u istoriji upotrebljava baš u ovom eseju, do toga da će poljoprivreda da postane luksuz, a da će se ljudi za ishranu koristiti sintetičke materije, ili da će razviti posebne mikroorganizme s kojima će moći da vare i celulozu. Uz sve to stigne da prodene ideju o nekoj vrsti svakodnevnog bezazlenog dopinga, koji bi se mogao piti kao kafa ili čaj, ili daje konkretne savete kako kroz snagu vetra možemo čuvati energiju. Naravno, iskoči mu i pokoja bezobrazna šalica, kao ta da su dva najpoznatija Jevrejina na svetu Isus i Ajnštajn, ili izjava kako su Šeli i Kits poslednji engleski pesnici zaista upućeni u hemiju. Opet, to ga vodi do priče o potrebi za prožimanjem umetnosti i nauke, ali tako da se u obrazovanje umetnika obavezno uključe naučna saznanja, koja, kako se to Holdejnu čini, nedostaju onovremenim stvaraocima. Kao svetao primer izdvaja Normana Daglasa, što je divna preporuka za čitanje.
Ma, šta da vam kažem – jedno pomalo čak i zastrašujuće putovanje i dragulj istorije nauke, koji predstavlja polazište za razgovore kojima kraja nema. A ono što je zanimljivo jeste da je klasičar u Holdejnu, iako je nazvao esej tako kako ga je nazvao, ustuknuo pred prirodnjakom, budući da je priznao kako je uveren da je nauka daleko inspirativnija i podsticajnija od klasične lektire. Voleo bih da nisam sklon da se ponekad složim s tim.
Da nije bilo Ćirkovićevog predavanja, verovatno nikad ne bih pročitao Holdenov esej, koji se pokazao kao divno čitalačko iznenađenje. Pre oko vek od današnjeg trenutka (1923), Holdejn je održao predavanje o viziji budućnosti u kontekstu naučnih otkrića. Tekst tog predavanja, uz male izmene, predstavlja „Dedala”, nevelik, ali sadržajan ogled neverovatnih ideja. Od ideja o radničkom samoupravljanju, obnovljivih izvora energije (naslutio je da ćemo morati napustiti ugalj i naftu), sve do genetičkog inženjeringa. Ovde sve vrvi od kontroverznih ideja i aktuelnih tema – od pojma ektogeneze (razvoj fetusa izvan materice) koji se prvi put u istoriji upotrebljava baš u ovom eseju, do toga da će poljoprivreda da postane luksuz, a da će se ljudi za ishranu koristiti sintetičke materije, ili da će razviti posebne mikroorganizme s kojima će moći da vare i celulozu. Uz sve to stigne da prodene ideju o nekoj vrsti svakodnevnog bezazlenog dopinga, koji bi se mogao piti kao kafa ili čaj, ili daje konkretne savete kako kroz snagu vetra možemo čuvati energiju. Naravno, iskoči mu i pokoja bezobrazna šalica, kao ta da su dva najpoznatija Jevrejina na svetu Isus i Ajnštajn, ili izjava kako su Šeli i Kits poslednji engleski pesnici zaista upućeni u hemiju. Opet, to ga vodi do priče o potrebi za prožimanjem umetnosti i nauke, ali tako da se u obrazovanje umetnika obavezno uključe naučna saznanja, koja, kako se to Holdejnu čini, nedostaju onovremenim stvaraocima. Kao svetao primer izdvaja Normana Daglasa, što je divna preporuka za čitanje.
Ma, šta da vam kažem – jedno pomalo čak i zastrašujuće putovanje i dragulj istorije nauke, koji predstavlja polazište za razgovore kojima kraja nema. A ono što je zanimljivo jeste da je klasičar u Holdejnu, iako je nazvao esej tako kako ga je nazvao, ustuknuo pred prirodnjakom, budući da je priznao kako je uveren da je nauka daleko inspirativnija i podsticajnija od klasične lektire. Voleo bih da nisam sklon da se ponekad složim s tim.
March 26, 2018
Often considered one of the first ever trans-humanist tracts, believing that science can overcome human limitations. (An example would be seeing how envitro fertilization, artificial limbs, surgery could be seen as stepping stones in the great march of human progress).
Haldane discusses how the latest innovations can change biology. He predicted, in a time when 70% of the population was rural, that agriculture would be mostly automated, and most of humanity would live in cities (not wrong).
He also talks about how technology has a habit of outpacing morality. Mentioning how eugenicists and trying to 'genetically purify' humans could have dire consequences... in the 1920s... let's let that sink in and not add much more commentary than we need to, other than... wow.
The information he talks about still applies, given the political environment we live in:
"Applied science tends to magnify injustices until they become too intolerable. Then the average man, who all the prophets and poets could not move, turns at last and extinguishes the evil at its source."
Haldane discusses how the latest innovations can change biology. He predicted, in a time when 70% of the population was rural, that agriculture would be mostly automated, and most of humanity would live in cities (not wrong).
He also talks about how technology has a habit of outpacing morality. Mentioning how eugenicists and trying to 'genetically purify' humans could have dire consequences... in the 1920s... let's let that sink in and not add much more commentary than we need to, other than... wow.
The information he talks about still applies, given the political environment we live in:
"Applied science tends to magnify injustices until they become too intolerable. Then the average man, who all the prophets and poets could not move, turns at last and extinguishes the evil at its source."
August 20, 2021
"The second point is perhaps harder to express. The chemical or physical inventor is always a Prometheus. There is no great invention, from fire to flying, which has not been hailed as an insult to some god. But if every physical and chemical invention is a blasphemy, every biological invention is a perversion. There is hardly one which, on first being brought to the notice of an observer from any nation which has not previously heard of their existence, would not appear to him as indecent and unnatural."
"Similarly institutions which were based on short lives have almost wholly collapsed. For example the English land system postulated that the land- owner should die aged about forty, and be succeeded by his eldest son, aged about twenty. The son had spent most of his life on the estate, and had few interests outside it. He managed it at least as well as anyone else could have done. Nowadays the father dodders on till about eighty, and is generally incompetent for ten years before his death. His son succeeds him at the age of fifty or so, by which time he may be a fairly competent colonel or stockbroker, but cannot hope to learn the art of managing an estate. In consequence he either hands it over to an agent who is often corrupt, or runs it unscientifically, gets a low return, and ascribes to Bolshevism what he should really lay at the door of vaccination."
"The time has gone by when a Huxley could believe that while science might indeed remould traditional mythology, traditional morals were impregnable and sacrosanct to it. We must learn not to take traditional morals too seriously. And it is just because even the least dogmatic of religions tends to associate itself with some kind of unalterable moral tradition, that there can be no truce between science and religion."
"Similarly institutions which were based on short lives have almost wholly collapsed. For example the English land system postulated that the land- owner should die aged about forty, and be succeeded by his eldest son, aged about twenty. The son had spent most of his life on the estate, and had few interests outside it. He managed it at least as well as anyone else could have done. Nowadays the father dodders on till about eighty, and is generally incompetent for ten years before his death. His son succeeds him at the age of fifty or so, by which time he may be a fairly competent colonel or stockbroker, but cannot hope to learn the art of managing an estate. In consequence he either hands it over to an agent who is often corrupt, or runs it unscientifically, gets a low return, and ascribes to Bolshevism what he should really lay at the door of vaccination."
"The time has gone by when a Huxley could believe that while science might indeed remould traditional mythology, traditional morals were impregnable and sacrosanct to it. We must learn not to take traditional morals too seriously. And it is just because even the least dogmatic of religions tends to associate itself with some kind of unalterable moral tradition, that there can be no truce between science and religion."
Read
May 27, 2020If you have the right kind of mind- interested in the history or philosophy of science, the development of science-fiction, or attempts to bridge the gap between the two cultures - this is one to go for. It is a piece of creative non-fiction, a speculation on the future course of human civilization written - and well-written at that - in the nineteen twenties. Haldane is frequently wrong, of course (what did you expect?), but fascinatingly so, and sometimes he gets it interestingly right. In fact this does exactly what hard science-fiction ought to do, without needing to bother with plot.
If you have the wrong kind of mind - and I know not everyone is as nerdy as I am - then it's probably still entertaining, but you might consider skipping it.
If you have the wrong kind of mind - and I know not everyone is as nerdy as I am - then it's probably still entertaining, but you might consider skipping it.
April 17, 2024
Interesting scientistic and materialist insights and predictions by Haldane concerning the future of science and man. Thoughts on harnessing solar power were already there, among many other things.
****
"I will only touch very briefly on the future of physics, as the subject is inevitably technical. At present physical theory is in a state of profound suspense. This is primarily due to Einstein—the greatest Jew since Jesus. I have no doubt that Einstein’s name will still be remembered and revered when Lloyd George, Foch, and William Hohenzollern share with Charlie Chaplin that ineluctable oblivion which awaits the uncreative mind. I trust that I may be excused if I trespass from the strict subject of my theme to add my quota to the rather numerous misstatements of Einstein’s views which have appeared during the last few years."
****
The first point that we may notice about these inventions is that they have all had a profound emotional and ethical effect. Of the four earlier there is not one which has not formed the basis of a religion. I do not know what strange god will have the hardihood to adopt Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant in the place of Triptolemus and Noah, but one may remark that it is impossible to keep religion out of any discussion of the practices which they popularized.
****
"Of the biological inventions of the past, four were made before the dawn of history. I refer to the domestication of animals, the domestication of plants, the domestication of fungi for the production of alcohol, and to a fourth invention, which I believe was of more ultimate and far-reaching importance than any of these, since it altered the path of sexual selection, focused the attention of man as a lover upon woman’s face and breasts, and changed our idea of beauty from the steatopygous Hottentot to the modern European, from the Venus of Brassempouy to the Venus of Milo. There are certain races which have not yet made this last invention. And in our own day two more have been made, namely bactericide and the artificial control of conception."
****
"I will only touch very briefly on the future of physics, as the subject is inevitably technical. At present physical theory is in a state of profound suspense. This is primarily due to Einstein—the greatest Jew since Jesus. I have no doubt that Einstein’s name will still be remembered and revered when Lloyd George, Foch, and William Hohenzollern share with Charlie Chaplin that ineluctable oblivion which awaits the uncreative mind. I trust that I may be excused if I trespass from the strict subject of my theme to add my quota to the rather numerous misstatements of Einstein’s views which have appeared during the last few years."
****
The first point that we may notice about these inventions is that they have all had a profound emotional and ethical effect. Of the four earlier there is not one which has not formed the basis of a religion. I do not know what strange god will have the hardihood to adopt Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant in the place of Triptolemus and Noah, but one may remark that it is impossible to keep religion out of any discussion of the practices which they popularized.
****
"Of the biological inventions of the past, four were made before the dawn of history. I refer to the domestication of animals, the domestication of plants, the domestication of fungi for the production of alcohol, and to a fourth invention, which I believe was of more ultimate and far-reaching importance than any of these, since it altered the path of sexual selection, focused the attention of man as a lover upon woman’s face and breasts, and changed our idea of beauty from the steatopygous Hottentot to the modern European, from the Venus of Brassempouy to the Venus of Milo. There are certain races which have not yet made this last invention. And in our own day two more have been made, namely bactericide and the artificial control of conception."
October 29, 2024
Kind of fascinating, from a historical perspective. This is perhaps the Ür-text of biotechnology: Engineered microbes to improve crop yields, food made from chemical inputs alone, arbitrary trait selection for children, and ectogenesis (IVF) to decouple sex and reproduction. The book was influential enough in its time that it inspired a two critical responses: Icarus, by Bertrand Russell, and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
January 25, 2024
he's a hater to his core and i respect it! wrong about literally everything but hey i think if i made wild grabs at the future of science and humanity i would sound crazy too! inspired loml brave new world so definitely worth a read.
August 8, 2014
Since this book was written about 90 years ago, it is at times hard to understand, but its sheer distance from the present makes Haldane's prophecies all the more interesting. My takeaway is that we are generally awful at predicting the future, but it's amazing how much science has progressed in ways that people could have never imagined, and it is heartening to think that it will continue to progress in the future. I think this is the takeaway he wanted people to have: science has not reached a limit. There are always more discoveries to be made, and scientific progress will have both positive and negative effects, hopefully with the positive outweighing the negative.
September 1, 2016
Not an easy book to read, perhaps because of the style of the author's language. Interesting to read his scientific projections from 1924 and see how many have or have not come to pass. Also interesting to see that they did not know in 1924 that it was a lack of estrogen that contributed to menopausal symptoms. Generally positive toward science, but with reminders about social responsibility.
August 13, 2016
My father found what appears to be an original copy of this 1924 publication in the house of confederate General Joe Wheeler as a kid. I recently found it on his shelf and took it home. This guy had some really good ideas of what the future would bring, and he is right for the most part.
April 3, 2015
Though in black jest it bows and nods
Under the moons with silver rods,
I know it is roaring at the gods,
Waiting the last eclipse.
Under the moons with silver rods,
I know it is roaring at the gods,
Waiting the last eclipse.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews