Science & Tech Quote by Charles Babbage

A polite throat-clear that lands like an indictment. Babbage couches his critique in the language of measured inference - "not unreasonable to suppose", "some portion" - but the restraint is strategic. In an England proud of its factories, empire, and practical know-how, he’s pointing a finger at the one institution least willing to be blamed: elite education. The sentence performs the very caution he believes the culture lacks. He argues like a scientist, then uses that posture to accuse society of failing to value science.

The subtext is a fight over prestige. Early 19th-century Britain produced world-changing engineering and commerce, yet its universities still treated mathematics and experimental inquiry as second-class compared to classics, theology, and gentlemanly polish. Babbage, a builder of machines and a prophet of calculation, is calling out a system that rewards rhetorical training while starving the habits that generate discovery: rigorous measurement, institutional support, and a career path for researchers. "Neglect" isn’t just personal disinterest; it’s structural - who gets funded, who gets hired, what counts as a serious life.

What makes the line work is its quiet political savvy. He doesn’t denounce; he hypothesizes. That matters in a culture where direct attacks could be dismissed as bad manners or self-interest. By framing the problem as a reasonable supposition, he invites the reader to join the verdict without feeling coerced. It’s a reformer’s move: make the accusation sound like common sense, then let the implications detonate.