The dangerous idea Click to the Sixth Century BC.Hippasus of Metapontum stands on a boat in the Aegean, pondering his fatE.Pythagoras himself sentences him to death for revealing a secret that undermined the Greek way of thinking. Pythagoras is noted throughout the world for his famed theorem; the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. The theorem makes the universe understandablE.(1) Its ratios and proportions are keys to explaining mathematics, science, music, nature, harmony and beauty in a civilized society. The problem is that Pythagoras had it wrong. To the Greeks the number zero does not exist. A ratio with zero in it defies nature, and thus the logic of the universE.But the math is incontrovertiblE.The Pythagoreans figure it out, responding by forming a brotherhood to deny the existence of zero, to preserve the mathematical laws that make them leaders in civilized society, and to protect their charismatic leader. Hippos, a mathematician and member of the brotherhood, spills the secret about irrational numbers and an irrational universE.The Pythagoreans take him to sea, tossing him overboard for exposing a self-serving theory with an unpopular truth. Click to present day. Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. and former Post associate editor Robert Kaiser arrive to deliver 'the news about the news. ' (2) The Washington Post editors make an old argument for a new time; news is sinking to another new low. Downie and Kaiser blame consolidation, convergence, and proliferation of media for undermining good journalism and failing to inform. society. They acknowledge that they come to their perspective from 'the privileged perch' of The Washington Post The view from the privileged perch is predictably Pythagorean. As an interconnected society moves toward participating in the news, the Brotherhood of new seeks to protect its values and exert its control. (3) Just as zero changed the equation shaping humanity's vision of the universe, accessible media changes the equation that shapes news and informs society. Everyone is a journalist in the age of access. But for most news organizations, collaboration with their audience is an irrational concept, a dangerous ideA. Click back to Pythagoras. The story unfolds like a video gamE.A health-conscious leader who believes indigestion causes all disease, Pythagoras especially fears beans because they cause flatulence in past, present and future lives. (4) His arrogance grows, his views become extreme, and soon his secret society crumbles. Enemies set out to kill him. A mob sets his house on firE. Members of the brotherhood are slaughtereD.Pythagoras flees, but he spots at a bean field, declaring that he'd rather be killed than cross the fielD.His pursuers obligE.They cut his throat (5) Arrogance and eternal flatulencE.Pythagoras dies for behaviors and beliefs that put him out of touch with the rest of the worlD. (41)