We think of museums as places of objects. In fact they are places of ideas. The objects of nature give rise to human ideas about nature. Ideas give rise to the objects created by humans. Ideas are the principal means by which humans interact with objects in museums. Too often our different ideas lead to conflict rather than to understanding. Our ideas about objects change over time as our knowledge and attitudes about them change and our research techniques improve. Changing ideas are controversial because they contradict what we have previously believed, which explains why museums are one of the most dominant centers of controversy.
