I told my friend, a member of an Orthodox synagogue, that I didn't know much about Kosher laws or rules and that is true. I saw a headline recently in the Pew religious newsletter about 'Kosher electricity'. He asked if I thought that was funny. I said it could be.
I have been reading "Einstein's Fridge" by Paul Sen. I know that it took a long time for scientists to understand electricity as much as they do and to also understand power, such as electrical power, power in sunlight and mechanical power as in a windmill or a combustion engine.
I taught a course called "Futures" for several years. I feel that I firmly grasp the difference between the past, the present and the future. That course was also taught by partners, one a historian of science and one a specialist in the environments of the earth and natural resources. The title is purposely plural since it can be important that predictions are often incorrect and that different predictors come up with different versions of future events.
To me, it is not wise to expect insightful people in the past to have foresight about events, practices, discoveries that happen centuries after they live. The science writer Carl Zimmer wrote "Planet of Viruses" and described the discovery of viruses, life so tiny that the existence of viruses had to be inferred, not observed, with the tools of that time. The beginning of that work happened in the 1840's, more recent than the founding of our country. Working hard to find a way of interpreting the writings of Nostradamus so that we can feel that Nosie foresaw viruses is a waste and misleading, I think.
