I cannot say anything about the concrete assertions the author makes. He's using artful language to say a scientific thing; a scientific thing that cannot be verified. What I can say is that I see a theme: A theme of unity opposed to distinction. In a world where experts are specialized, people are atomized into rational actors, inquiry cut up into disciplines and schools, classes stratified into hierarchy, the Earth parceled out into privacies, and the most lauded brains in the world the most bifurcated, Da Vinci's life and mind must be unintelligible.<p>His brain was mixed up; his life was mixed up. Where Da Vinci ended and the world began was no where to be found. His interests saw no division, his talents no distinction. He degraded himself, rolled in the dirt, put his roots there and grew taller than the ivory tower. He without lineage outgrew any line; he came from the tenebrous muck of the world and left for the heavens.