‘WE BUILD TOO MANY WALLS AND NOT ENOUGH BRIDGES.’ – ISAAC NEWTON (actually not)

‘We build too many walls and not enough bridges.’, Isaac Newton, the polymath who changed the world, once said wisely. At first glance, this may be a reasonably puzzling sentence. Is Newton talking about ‘walls’ and ‘bridges’ in a literal sense? If so, why would he say that? If not, what do these industrial buildings symbolise? To what extent does Newton’s quote still hold today?

In fact, this sentence is a pun. The ‘walls’ and ‘bridges’ do demonstrate the rapidly advancing industrial level during The Enlightenment (Evans et al., 2021). We can imagine the lack of sophisticated water-based buildings, while land-based constructions were maturer. Nevertheless, the ‘walls’ also symbolise the separation between individuals, while the ‘bridges’ refer to the connections and bonds that should be built between them. With urbanisation in the seventeenth century, there was also a switch from traditional settlement living to a more private and segregated pattern of living (British Academy, n.d.).

Meanwhile, the lack of communication technology prevented people from interacting with each other. Most importantly, the development of commerce and industry has changed the way people produce and live, making them focus only on their interests and neglecting their emotional needs between each other. Considering Newton’s polymath role, this quote seems logically correct if his intention is successfully interpreted as above. As a mathematician and physicist, he sharply captured the rapid maternal changes around him. As a philosopher, he had acutely realised the altered relationships between people t during this time and analysed them with an empathetic perspective.

When we consider current societies, Newton’s quote can still be applied in some ways – apathy is gradually spreading (Rothman, 2022). Nowadays, we have matured means of communication (from letters to mobile phones and mail to the Internet). However, people seem more unconcerned about what is happening around them. As Oxford and the Reuters Institute pointed out, citizens in the USA consumed a significantly lower amount of online news in 2021 than the previous year (Newman, 2022). It can be seen that people are trapped in the ‘walls’ of the Internet but have forgotten to use this tool to build ‘bridges’ between each other. A positivist study conducted in 2021 examining Chinese youth’s social media fatigue’ also underpins this argument and reminds us that technological advancement is not utterly benign for people (Liu & He, 2021). 

Fortunately, most of the time, the Internet and communicational technology make people’s remote interactions possible. Take ‘modified extended family’ as an example: this refers to a family type consisting of a couple, their dependent children, and relatives. The fact that those family members do not necessarily have to live in the same household but are connected via letters, e-mail, telephone, and other means highlights this family type (Litwak, 1960). In this situation, even though the ‘walls’ of geographical obstacles limit people’s communication, the ‘bridges’ built by the Internet and the communication network eliminate this plight to some extent. They also help bridge some gaps in other fields, such as education and the economy. As the World Bank suggests, technology ‘may be useful to help guide the planning and implementation of educational technology initiatives’ in some rural and poor areas (Trucano, 2023). 

To conclude, Newton’s views possess high reference value both in his time and contemporary society. However, we cannot ignore the two sides of new technology. Although some studies have shown that new communication technologies and networks can alienate people, most of the time, whether based on surveys or our own experiences, ‘bridges’ are becoming more numerous, breaking down the barriers brought by ‘walls’ step by step.

References

British Academy. (n.d.). The Raleigh Lecture on History. London : Humphrey Milford, [19–]. http://books.google.ie/books?id=915GuAAACAAJ&dq=RALEIGH+LECTURE+ON+HISTORY&hl=&cd=1&source=gbs_api

Evans, Brewminate, & Rydén. (2021, November 12). Industrial Development during the Enlightenment. Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from https://brewminate.com/industrial-development-during-the-enlightenment/

Litwak, E. (1960, June). Geographic Mobility and Extended Family Cohesion. American Sociological Review, 25(3), 385. https://doi.org/10.2307/2092085

Liu, Y., & He, J. (2021, September 21). “Why Are You Running Away From Social Media?” Analysis of the Factors Influencing Social Media Fatigue: An Empirical Data Study Based on Chinese Youth. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.674641

Newman. (2022, January 10). Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2022. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Retrieved February 18, 2024, from https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/journalism-media-and-technology-trends-and-predictions-2022

Rothman, L. (2022, April 13). It’s Harder Than Ever to Care About Anything. TIME. https://time.com/6160337/hard-to-care-about-anything/

Trucano, M. (2023, October 2). Promising uses of technology in education in poor, rural and isolated communities around the world. World Bank Blogs. https://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/education-technology-poor-rural