Introduction Ever to be of the same, steadfast and abiding, is the prerogative of the divine things only. The nature of the bodily does not entitle it to this rank’– The Statesman, Plato (~360 BCE) Pierre-Simon Laplace, while demonstrating the stability of the solar system in his Traité de mécanique céleste, surprisingly also considered and…

We’re taught that evolution inches forward slowly, dramatically changing plants, animals, and people over millions of years. We’re taught that mountains grow imperceptibly over millennia, and that tiny streams are only capable of creating vast gorges over a similar timeframe. We’re taught that our geological history unfolds in a tidy, predictable line. And yet, despite…