Well I’m between books until my next haul arrives so I’ve been scrolling through obscure corners of the internet looking for inspiration. There’s something about conspiracy theorists, magicians, and the disturbingly religious that have always intrigued me. I think there must be something about searching for a hidden order to the world that scratches the human brain just the right way, or maybe just the wrong way, depending on your perspective. I find it interesting because it’s the same drive that pushes other people to make important discoveries and invent new technology, arguably the greatest asset to our species. I often wonder what the difference is between a crazy person who sees demons as the source of all the problems in their life, and a brilliant genius who can see the truth in a way nobody else can. It seems like a fine line that even some of the most notable scientists in history rode either side of at one time or another in their lives. It appears to be impossible to fully separate the ability to creatively explore new concepts and the vulnerability to buying heavily into something completely insane.

My favorite example is Isaac Newton, who spent much of his life attempting to create a bible code and searching for the philosopher’s stone. It’s strange that the same guy who discovered the laws of motion and theory of color could spend so much time searching for meaning in the occult. I always thought that he was held back by the knowledge of his time (which would at least explain his search for a philosopher’s stone), but actually one of his contemporaries, Robert Boyle, had already discovered some of the fundamental laws of chemistry during his lifetime. He chose to ignore them in favor of his alchemical studies even though they never amounted to much.

Speaking of Boyle, I find many of his beliefs really funny because they were just so close to being absolutely correct. For example, he was a big proponent of monogenism, the idea that all humans descend from a common ancestor. As opposed to polygenesis, that there are multiple common ancestors accounting for different races. Currently we have the ‘out of Africa’ theory that modern humans originated in Africa and subsequently migrated into Asia and Europe, which supports monogenism. Boyle however had a biblical explanation in Adam and Eve, who he believed must be white (of course) and gave birth to all different races of people by a rather convoluted explanation. Based on all of the genetic evidence we’ve gathered in the modern day, it’s the correct conclusion, just with a really weird twist. He used Newton’s theory of color (having to do with prisms and the composition of light) as a possible explanation of the various races of mankind, describing them as ‘seminal impressions.’ Once again, it’s an oblique way to approach the question, but ultimately not too far from the truth given how genes are propagated. Apparently some members of the scientific community at the time described these views as ‘disturbing.’

The trend goes all the way back too. One of my favorite theories from the classical period about the nature of gravity is the natural place theory, proposed by Aristotle. His idea was that objects fall because each of the elements they are composed of has their natural place in the world. Water flows downhill because it wants to reach the sea, Earth sits on top of water because it’s heavier, air flows up because it wants to be with all the rest. It’s a weird explanation because even a moment’s thought reveals a ton of inconsistencies, like the existence of lakes, or if you wade out from the shore, why is there still Earth to stand on? But this is from the same guy who is known for the creation of formal logic and the development of literary criticism. HOW??

It all makes me think of this legendary Clarkson meme:

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley