When I was in Rome in March visiting my daughter who was studying architecture for a semester in Rome, we went to the MAXXI - a national museum of 21st century art. An exhibit there was the "Erasmus Effect". Naturally, I had to look up why this exhibit was named this way. Here is what I got from the press release:
Italian architects abroad, realised by MAXXI Architettura, directed by Margherita Guccione, documents a specific aspect of contemporary Italian architecture: the ever-growing numbers of designers who choose to move to other countries. The title of the exhibition in fact derives from the name of the European university exchange programme Erasmus, created by the European Community in 1987 to permit students to undertake a period of study at a foreign university.
However, the exhibition takes that literal meaning and expands on it to recount the stories of long-term expatriates such as Bo Bardi, Soleri and Belluschi and to describe a phenomenon that goes well beyond the confines of Europe and within which the desire for experience abroad is interwoven with the economic climate and the difficulties faced by architecture in Italy.
(www.fondazionemaxxi.it)
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Exhibition at the MAXXI, Rome, Italy (March 9, 2014) |
So I did a little research to find out about the name "Erasmus". In the context of the exhibition at the MAXXI, ERASMUS stands for EuRopean community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (
The Erasmus Programme Moves Ahead - A First Series of Community Aids to 240 Inter-University Cooperation Programmes, European Commission - IP/87/423 14/10/1987). The EU's website claims that the program also takes its name from a16th century Dutch scholar, Erasmus. Evidently, this scholar was Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus known as Erasmus, "a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian" according to Wikipedia ... not the most reliable of sources but for now, it does the trick.
But I digress ... back to the book.
So, Erasmus' effect on human history as told in this epic story is long and dramatic. Remember, the Butlerian Jihad was sparked by his toss of little Manion off the rooftop balcony. How much more a role had he played, Duncan wonders.
"Are you saying I made up the prophecies?" Erasmus asked. "Perhaps as a way to guide an evermind stubbornly intent on a narrow-minded course of action? Perhaps to bring us precisely to this juncture? A very interesting hypothesis. One worthy of a true Kwisatz Haderach." The grin on his face seemed more genuine than ever.
Smiling coolly, Duncan said, "As the Kwisatz Haderach, I know there are -- and always will be, even as I evolve -- limitations on my knowledge and my abilities." He tapped the robot in the center of his chest. "Answer me. Did you manipulate the prophecies?"
"Humans created countless projections and legends long before I existed. I simply adapted the ones I liked best, generated the complex calculations that would produce the desired projections, and fed them to the evermind, Omnius, with his usual myopia, saw only what he wanted to see. He convinced himself that in the 'end' a 'great change in the universe' required a 'victory' for him. And for that he needed the Kwisatz Haderach. Omnius learned many things, but he learned arrogance too well." Erasmus swirled his robes. "No matter what the evermind or the Face Dancers thought -- I have always been in control."
Raising his hands, the robot gestured to the sentient metal cathedral around them, indicating the whole city of Synchrony and the rest of the thinking-machine empire. "Our forces are not entirely leaderless. With the evermind gone, I now control the thinking machines. I have all the codes, the intricate, interlinked programming."
Duncan had an idea that was part prescience, part intuition, and part gamble. "Or the final Kwisatz Haderach can take control."
"That seems a much neater solution." An odd expression moved across the robot's flowmetal face. "You interest me, Duncan Idaho."
(Sandworms of Dune, p. 487-488)
Indeed.