Institute for Continuing Professional Development

Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Erwin Chargaff
Direktor em. des Biochemischen Institutes der Columbia Universität New York

"The Stream of Knowledge and Its Banks"

"If I were an omnipotent Manchu Emperor of the kind known in China in the Middle Ages, I would say: Immediate attenuation of the inflation of knowledge is absolutely imperative. Of course, everybody will see this as a dystopia. However, I can only say: True knowledge is wonderful and broadens the mind; empty knowledge is fatal, it suffocates the mind.
As Adam and Eve are known to have been equipped – not by God – with the ability to recognize what is good and what is evil, we should have no problems in distinguishing the two."