Civilisation

In his art man seeks forms of perfection
Through order imposed by selection.
This creative expression
Leaves a telling impression
In man's civilisation's complexion.

The British art historian Kenneth Clark (1903–1973), was the author and presenter of the BBC landmark television series Civilisation. In the episode, The skin of our teeth he reflects, "It means that at certain epochs man has felt conscious of something about himself — body and spirit — which was outside the day-to-day struggle for existence and the night-to-night struggle with fear; and he has felt the need to develop these qualities of thought and feeling so that they might approach as nearly as possible to an ideal of perfection — reason, justice, physical beauty, all of them in equilibrium. He has managed to satisfy this need in various ways — through myths, through dance and song, through systems of philosophy and through the order that he has imposed on the visible world. The children of his imagination are also the expressions of an ideal."

Though Clark's series was focused on the the role of art in man's civilisation, this expression "children of imagination" may apply equally to how science has supported the ascent of man.