All knowledge – all information between human beings – can only be exchanged within a play of tolerance. And that is true whether the exchange is in science, or in literature, or in religion, or in politics, or in any form of thought that aspires to dogma. It’s a major tragedy of my lifetime and yours that scientists were refining, to the most exquisite precision, the Principle of Tolerance – and turning their backs on the fact that all around them, tolerance was crashing to the ground beyond repair. – Dr. Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man, Episode 11: “Knowledge or Certainty”
A true polymath, Jacob Bronowski was born in Poland and emigrated to England as a child. He went to the University of Cambridge, graduating as the top undergraduate math student, followed by a 1935 PhD in mathematics on algebraic geometry. He was also a strong chess player and wrote poetry with a deep affinity for William Blake. During the Second World War, he developed mathematical approaches to bombing strategy for the RAF Bomber Command. After the war, he turned to biology, trying to understand the nature of violence in mankind. He is best remembered for the 13 part BBC TV series The Ascent of Man (1973), which is about the history of human life and scientific endeavor. Below is the introduction to the series:
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, shows from the BBC were usually presented by PBS, including The Forsyte Saga (1967) and Upstairs/Downstairs (1971), a precursor to Downton Abbey. At that time, there was no internet or personal video recorders, so you had listen well at each episode. The series might repeat in the future, but the best way to review it was to purchase the book. In addition to the text and still pictures from the series, the book cannot be modified or removed from the net. A few months ago, I saw the entire Ascent of Man on YouTube, but it has been (correctly) removed due to copyright considerations.
The precursor to The Ascent of Man was Civilisation (1969), subtitled “A Personal Reflection.” It was based upon Kenneth Clark’s knowledge of western art, while including aspects of architecture and philosophy from the Dark Ages to the present. Even then it was criticized for the western-centric view. But David Attenborough, controller of the new BBC2 (color) channel, convinced Clark to use the word “civilisation” to sum up what the series was about. The Ascent of Man followed the same 13 episode format as Civilisation. Other quotes from The Ascent of Man:
But war, organized war, is not a human instinct. It is a highly planned and cooperative form of theft. And that form of theft began 10,000 years ago when the harvesters of wheat accumulated a surplus and the nomads rose out of the desert to rob them of what they themselves could not provide.
We are nature’s unique experiment to make the rational intelligence prove itself sounder than the reflex. Knowledge is our destiny. Self-knowledge, at last bringing together the experience of the arts and the explanations of science, waits ahead of us.
The personal commitment of a man to his skill, the intellectual commitment and the emotional commitment working together as one, has made the Ascent of Man.
The enduring strength of Civilisation and The Ascent of Man is the coherency of a single brilliant individual, even of a liberal persuasion, to organize facts that can be verified, while adding insights from other areas of knowledge. At the end of the series, here is Dr. Bronowski’s warning in 1973:
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