In a world filled with diverse cultures and countries, how is it possible that different people are at vastly different stages of development? Starting with Australian Aborigines, author Patrick Stedham examines key stages in human attitudes and finds that those civilisations which place experiment above opinion make the fastest material progress-and notes the damage caused if opinion is placed above fact.Octogenarian Patrick Stedham has spent his working life in industry. In retirement he has deplored the growth of pseudo-science and indulged his lifelong fascination with variable time. He lives in Exmouth on the south coast of Devon, England.