Into the New Millennium: Trailblazing Tales From Analog Science Fiction and Fact, 2000 - 2010 by Penny Publications
Authors: Penny Publications
Tags: Science-Fiction, Literature & Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Anthologies, Anthologies & Short Stories
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purses his own lips in unconscious imitation.
If the world does turn on itself with a diurnal motion, as Buridan and others suspect it may, it makes precious little noise in doing so. The hinges of the world must be well greased, for it turns over always in quiet moments. It turned over once when Gerard of Cremona picked up his pen. It turns over again when Jean Buridan de Bethune puts his down; and maybe there is just the slightest creak when he does. If there has ever been such a creak, it is then, it is there, in that room.
Possem enit dici, he has written, quod quando deus creavit sphaeras coelestes, ipse incepit movere unamquamque earum sicut voluit; et tunc ab impetus quam dedit eis, moventur adhuc, quia ille impetus non corrumpitur nec diminuitur, cum non habent resistentiam.
Or to put the matter more plainly: A body set in motion will continue in that motion if it meets no resistance.
There. In a few strokes of the pen he has disenchanted the heavens. There is no need to suppose the celestial spheres filled with Aristotle's "fifth element," the quint essence , whose natural motion is circular. No need to distinguish celestial from sublunar physics. Since God created the heavens and the earth, the same forms that account for earthly motions may also account for those of the heavens. Uniform motion above, where there is no resistance, difform motion below, where there is.
"After leaving the arm of the thrower," he tells his students, "the projectile is moved by an impetus proportional to the body's weight and speed. The body will continue to be moved so long as this impetus remains stronger than the resistance, and, the impetus being permanent , motion will be of infinite duration if it be not corrupted nor diminished by a contrary force resisting it, or by one inclining it to a contrary motion."
Nicole bounces with excitement. "Then you don't need the Stagerite's Intelligences to keep the spheres turning!"
Buridan shrugs eloquently. Aristotle is full of crap, his shoulders say. If the Stagerite was wrong on matters of theology, as a Bishop of Paris once decreed, then might he not also be wrong on matters of the physics? "As my own master was fond of saying," he tells his students, "we ought not call upon entities we do not need. One might assume that there are many more separate substances than there are even celestial spheres and celestial motions, and invoke whole legions of angels to move them . . ." He waves his arms grandly at this. ". . . but this cannot be demonstrated by arguments originating from the senses, and the philosophy of nature demands always that our arguments be sensible."
Albrecht glances toward the stairway with a contemplative look and his lips part, as if to speak, but the young Norman pipes up. "The world is a gigantic clock that God set in motion at the Creation and runs now by itself!"
"The machina mundi ," Buridan repeats the common phrase, "runs by the laws of nature set by nature's God."
Albrecht smiles. "A clockwork world? Ach, that has right. The Lord has better things to do than spinning planetary spheres. Saving Nickl's soul wants his full attention."
Oresme tries to knock Albrecht's cap off, but is defeated by the Saxon's height. He settles for making a fig with his left hand. "But master," the young man says, "according to the Stagerite, velocity is the ratio of the motive force to the resisting force. So without resistance, speed must be instantaneous, and a body would be in two places in the same instant, which is impossible."
"Which alone tells us that Aristotle was mistaken," Buridan comments. "Albrecht, would you explain for our bachelor?"
" Internal resistance, yngling," the Saxon replies with a swat, easily ducked, toward the Norman's head. "All material bodies are compösed of elements in various proportions; so that in part they fall and in other parts, rise. Thus, a falling body will from its own airy or fiery parts resistance encountah, even in . . ." His voice
If the world does turn on itself with a diurnal motion, as Buridan and others suspect it may, it makes precious little noise in doing so. The hinges of the world must be well greased, for it turns over always in quiet moments. It turned over once when Gerard of Cremona picked up his pen. It turns over again when Jean Buridan de Bethune puts his down; and maybe there is just the slightest creak when he does. If there has ever been such a creak, it is then, it is there, in that room.
Possem enit dici, he has written, quod quando deus creavit sphaeras coelestes, ipse incepit movere unamquamque earum sicut voluit; et tunc ab impetus quam dedit eis, moventur adhuc, quia ille impetus non corrumpitur nec diminuitur, cum non habent resistentiam.
Or to put the matter more plainly: A body set in motion will continue in that motion if it meets no resistance.
There. In a few strokes of the pen he has disenchanted the heavens. There is no need to suppose the celestial spheres filled with Aristotle's "fifth element," the quint essence , whose natural motion is circular. No need to distinguish celestial from sublunar physics. Since God created the heavens and the earth, the same forms that account for earthly motions may also account for those of the heavens. Uniform motion above, where there is no resistance, difform motion below, where there is.
"After leaving the arm of the thrower," he tells his students, "the projectile is moved by an impetus proportional to the body's weight and speed. The body will continue to be moved so long as this impetus remains stronger than the resistance, and, the impetus being permanent , motion will be of infinite duration if it be not corrupted nor diminished by a contrary force resisting it, or by one inclining it to a contrary motion."
Nicole bounces with excitement. "Then you don't need the Stagerite's Intelligences to keep the spheres turning!"
Buridan shrugs eloquently. Aristotle is full of crap, his shoulders say. If the Stagerite was wrong on matters of theology, as a Bishop of Paris once decreed, then might he not also be wrong on matters of the physics? "As my own master was fond of saying," he tells his students, "we ought not call upon entities we do not need. One might assume that there are many more separate substances than there are even celestial spheres and celestial motions, and invoke whole legions of angels to move them . . ." He waves his arms grandly at this. ". . . but this cannot be demonstrated by arguments originating from the senses, and the philosophy of nature demands always that our arguments be sensible."
Albrecht glances toward the stairway with a contemplative look and his lips part, as if to speak, but the young Norman pipes up. "The world is a gigantic clock that God set in motion at the Creation and runs now by itself!"
"The machina mundi ," Buridan repeats the common phrase, "runs by the laws of nature set by nature's God."
Albrecht smiles. "A clockwork world? Ach, that has right. The Lord has better things to do than spinning planetary spheres. Saving Nickl's soul wants his full attention."
Oresme tries to knock Albrecht's cap off, but is defeated by the Saxon's height. He settles for making a fig with his left hand. "But master," the young man says, "according to the Stagerite, velocity is the ratio of the motive force to the resisting force. So without resistance, speed must be instantaneous, and a body would be in two places in the same instant, which is impossible."
"Which alone tells us that Aristotle was mistaken," Buridan comments. "Albrecht, would you explain for our bachelor?"
" Internal resistance, yngling," the Saxon replies with a swat, easily ducked, toward the Norman's head. "All material bodies are compösed of elements in various proportions; so that in part they fall and in other parts, rise. Thus, a falling body will from its own airy or fiery parts resistance encountah, even in . . ." His voice
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