bucky on zero

February 10, 2010 in Uncategorized

“… the 400 year battle
from 1200 to 1600
between the Church and science
in which the Church tried by decree laws,
torture and death
to prevent the lay use
of the cipher in calculations.

For the cipher or zero,—
brought to our civilization by the Arabs
from the Hindus,
along with their simple numerals and algebra,—
was symbol for all the non-sensorial world
soon to be popularly revealed
as a natural rather than mystical phenomenon.”
—r. buckminster fuller
untitled epic poem on the history of industrialization (1962)

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