I don’t mean to claim that there is no exception to this rule. Even in 1800, most rulers who wanted a strong army, and most business magnates who wanted a successful business, did not bother to finance research in physics, biology or economics. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries this relationship tightened, but the knot was tied only in the nineteenth century. When Bacon connected the two in the early seventeenth century, it was a revolutionary idea. Prior to 1500, science and technology were totally separate fields. In fact, the relationship between science and technology is a very recent phenomenon. We often think that it is impossible to develop new technologies without scientific research, and that there is little point in research if it does not result in new technologies. The connection forged between science and technology is so strong that today people tend to confuse the two. Even more important are technological tools.
Some are mental tools, such as those used to predict death rates and economic growth. Over the centuries, science has offered us many new tools. A theory that enables us to do new things constitutes knowledge. Consequently, truth is a poor test for knowledge. Scientists usually assume that no theory is 100 per cent correct. The real test of ‘knowledge’ is not whether it is true, but whether it empowers us. In it he argued that ‘knowledge is power’. In 1620 Francis Bacon published a scientific manifesto tided The New Instrument. Presidents and generals may not understand nuclear physics, but they have a good grasp of what nuclear bombs can do. Out of the 7 billion people in the world, how many really understand quantum mechanics, cell biology or macroeconomics? Science nevertheless enjoys immense prestige because of the new powers it gives us. So that kind of goal is called Aquarian utopia.Most people have a hard time digesting modern science because its mathematical language is difficult for our minds to grasp, and its findings often contradict common sense. Maybe Aquarians are idealists, implying they are struggling to pursue something ideal without considering realities, things in the way of reaching that goal. I've been through Internet looking for what that does mean but to no avail. I'm not sure about the meaning of the underlined 'Aquarian utopia'. It’s well documented among animals, notably our closest relatives, the chimpanzees and bonobos. Such a social structure is not an Aquarian utopia.
Since no man knew definitively which of the children were his, men showed equal concern for all youngsters. In such a band, a woman could have sex and form intimate bonds with several men (and women) simultaneously, and all of the band’s adults cooperated in parenting its children. The passage below comes from Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.
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