500,000 years ago, it was impossible to make fire. We froze in our caves and huts at night, and ate food raw. We didn’t know any better.
10,000 years ago, we couldn’t cultivate and control the plants that grew all around us. We picked what we could and then moved on. Always at the mercy of the season, we stayed in motion, struggling to survive. We didn’t know any better.
5,000 years ago, no one thought it would be possible to forge two weak metals together to make a stronger one. We toiled in back breaking labor limited by the brittle tools at our disposal. There was no other way, we didn’t know any better.
4,500 years ago, how far we could travel was limited by the strength of our feet and our physical endurance. What we could accomplish was limited to the resources of the land we called home. We just didn’t know anything else was possible.
1000 years ago, harnessing the power of the wind to travel great distances across seas and oceans was an unattainable dream. We captured men, forced them to row themselves to death to move ships only short distances across bodies of water at slow speeds. We didn’t know anything else was possible.
In the 1400’s, the world was flat. A disc in space at whose edges existed a great precipice, falling into the nothingness of the cosmos. Maps labeled uncharted waters with the ominous warning “here there be monsters.” Anything else was impossible.
In 1519 a man named Ferdinand could never sail his five ships all the way around the world. “You’re a fool Magellan!” they said. They didn’t know any better.
200 years ago, travel over land without beasts of burden was impossible. Who knew any different?
In 1902, we couldn’t fly, the idea that people could soar through the clouds like birds, was ludicrous. The dream of travelling great distances through the air was reserved for fools, and mad men. Everyone knew it was impossible.
In 1927 you couldn’t fly a plane across the Atlantic ocean, it was impossible. When a young air mail pilot from St. Louis said he would attempt just that, people couldn’t believe it. They didn’t know any better
In the 1962, it was impossible for men to walk on the face of the moon. One man and one nation chose to go anyway, not because it was easy, but because it was hard. The task was daunting, expensive and perilous. Accidents happened, men died, but amidst all the pain, embarrassment and loss, we pushed on. Many said we couldn’t do it. We knew better.
40 years later we’ve been there and back, sent space probes outside of the limits of our solar system, explored the surface of Mars with robots from 100 million miles away, and come together as nations to build a space station, in peace and cooperation. We’ve expanded the limits of human understanding more than anyone ever thought possible.
Many people say there is no more to learn, nowhere else to go, nothing left to understand. “It’s not worth it, spend the time and money on other things.” They say, “More worthwhile pursuits.” By now, I think we should know better.
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