by “There was no such thing as the Scientific Revolution, and this is a book about it” (Shapin 1).
The opening line from Steven Shapin’s The Scientific Revolution immediately invites us to reconsider the manner in which we were taught to understand historical human progress – an invitation which I personally am happy to accept. I certainly do not believe that this so-called revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries constitutes the single most important time for scientific advancement, simply because I agree with Shapin in that no one moment in science or technology can be truthfully analyzed without considering the years of questioning, work, discovery, failure, and revelation that led to such a point. Were the intellectual advancements of the 16th and 17th centuries impactful, important, and wide-reaching? Absolutely! Shapin still wrote a book about the period immediately after contesting the way in which it is historically idolized. But my best guess is that in 500+ years, humans looking back on the progression of our species will not be highlighting the Scientific Revolution with nearly the same awe and intensity as many do today.
Given where we are now, in the year 2020, focusing on the Scientific Revolution makes sense. Bacon, Borelli, Newton – these well-known figures and many more helped to modernize the human experience in a multitude of ways. But when you look at the exponential progress that humankind has made throughout history, with each new innovation and discovery spurring ever more frequent ones, it seems significantly shortsighted to assume that the 16th and 17th centuries will always retain their place as the main era of tremendous achievement and enlightenment. At the risk of once again entering the debate regarding what constitues science vs. technology, I would say that humans in 2500 will regard the development of the computer, among other massive technological leaps, as more defining turning points in getting where they are than the Scientific Revolution. That is, if “turning points” even exist. But assuming for a moment that they do, take the 20th century as an example of era-defining lifestyle development. Humans entered the 1900s still largely riding horses, and had made it into space 61 years later. Call it technology as opposed to science, call it the wow-factor and publicity of more modern developments, but you could very well argue that we are currently in the midst of a “scientific revolution” that holds just as many, if not more implications for the future of humanity than THE Scientific Revolution.
But in a few hundred years, who knows. Perhaps we will have colonized other planets. Perhaps alien life will have been confirmed. Perhaps time travel will become a topic of consideration. There is absolutely no way for us to predict the exact trajectory that our species will follow as science and technology continue to revolutionize the world as we know it, so why bother to guess? Focus on what we are doing here and now, and appreciate the part that we play in the millions-of-years-old game that is the human race. The Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries makes great content for a history class, but let’s not pretend that the period will forever remain unparalleled.