Episode 3 - Celestial Signs

What did the Babylonian sciences look like, and how did they read and interpret natural phenomena? What paradigms were at the basis of their predictive sciences? What role did the cuneiform script play in their philosophy of science? These are some of the questions that we will explore in a conversation with professor Marc Van de Mieroop. We discuss rational astronomy and irrational astrology, and whether these distinctions can be extended back in time by thousands of years when Babylonians practiced those sciences. We also engage with broader topics on how science has been redefined in different ways throughout history, our changing expectations from science, and our conceptions of rationality vs irrationality or logical vs illogical. Marc Van de Mieroop is a professor at the History Department at Columbia University, and specializes in the history of the ancient Near East from the beginning of writing to the age of Alexander of Macedon. He has also taught at the University of Oxford and Yale University, and is currently the Director of Columbia’s Center for the Ancient Mediterranean and Founding Editor of the Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History. His writings span a wide range of topics from political, socio-economic and intellectual aspects of the ancient Near East, ancient Egypt and methods of historical study. Music:BergsonistTracks: Amazon Snake Charming - Middle Ouest (Optimo Music, 2020)ISRC: DEU671902312Interlude - #bad9de (self released Ep, 2020)Used with arrangement and permission from rights holders.Bergsonist (Selwa Abd), originally from Morocco, is a New York-based multidisciplinary artist and musician. Under the guise of Bergsonist (derived from Deleuze's Bergsonism), she uses a variety of media to investigate social resonance through divergent conceptual aesthetics (minimalism, music concrete to name a few). Through her work, she explores notions of identity, memory, and social politics. Her most recent body of work is the sonic autobiography “Middle Ouest,” a full length album released via Optimo Music.  Audio post-production: Aref Heidar (Ceé) Image: A circular clay tablet with depictions of constellations and astrological calculations. Neo-Assyrian. Baked clay. Diameter 14.1cm, thickness 3.2cm. Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. British Museum K.8538. © The Trustees of the British Museum.