Mendelian Evolution and Mandalian Involution: Speculations About the Foundations of Cultural Change

Extract

You must pardon our audacity in presuming to say anything of substance about the foundations of cultural change in such brief space. Our apology for undertaking such a task lies in part in our spirit of adventure, and in part in our qualified intention to be suggestive rather than comprehensive. We are not aiming at conclusive scientific or scholarly documentation. We are being speculative, as scientists and scholars are sometimes prone to be when they are away from the laboratory or library, or when they are nagged by some of the nettlesome questions they feel compelled to come to terms with as men, but which professional prudence generally forbids them to talk about in formal conference or print. We would also like to make public our belief in the deep friendship between the sciences and humanities by unabashedly talking to each other in public, proclaiming common interests in common problems, and suggesting that in collaboration we will find the best basis to our problems' solution.