the earth is flat

[greg nice]

if history is any indicator, whatever you think is a truth today is probably incorrect. hundreds of years ago people were certain the earth was flat, and any speculation otherwise was considered as blasphemous as if someone today claimed they could live forever.

what are some other old truths in the same vein ?
(not limited to astronomy, just first things that came to mind)

-the earth is flat

-the earth is the center of the solar system

[keith123]

there is no God

[Hopey]

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there is a God

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I think you got confused by the question posed by the OP. I fixed your post for you.

[keith123]

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there is a God

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I think you got confused by the question posed by the OP. I fixed your post for you.

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You are still thinking like a caveman.

[Hopey]

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there is a God

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I think you got confused by the question posed by the OP. I fixed your post for you.

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You are still thinking like a caveman.

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Are you saying that cavemen didn't believe in the supernatural?

[luckyme]

There are very few areas of beliefs that the bulk of todays people have that don't fit nicely with the beliefs of 2000 years ago. If you don't interact much with the 'average person' then just watch a segment or two of JayWalking on Leno and hear the responses he gets from college grads/students/teachers.

Of the 1000's of people a person interacts with over time it's hard to find a few that don't have some magical beliefs .. not counting their religious ones.

Other than creature comfort issues, most people on the planet would fit nicely in the 14th century.

luckyme

[arahant]

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there is a God

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I think you got confused by the question posed by the OP. I fixed your post for you.

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You are still thinking like a caveman.

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Are you saying that cavemen didn't believe in the supernatural?

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I've seen those geico commercials. Cavemen are clearly atheists.

[keith123]

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there is a God

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you got confused by the question posed by the OP. I fixed your post for you.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are still thinking like a caveman.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you saying that cavemen didn't believe in the supernatural?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've seen those geico commercials. Cavemen are clearly atheists.

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Have humans always believed in the supernatural? If not, then those pre-supernatural believing humans were the flat-earth types. If the answer is always, that is quite interesting.

[Hopey]

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there is a God

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you got confused by the question posed by the OP. I fixed your post for you.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are still thinking like a caveman.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you saying that cavemen didn't believe in the supernatural?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've seen those geico commercials. Cavemen are clearly atheists.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have humans always believed in the supernatural? If not, then those pre-supernatural believing humans were the flat-earth types. If the answer is always, that is quite interesting.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's an impossible question to answer definitively, but yes, humans have always believed in the supernatural.

Believing in the supernatural allows you to explain things that you do not understand. Since early man knew almost nothing of science, it isn't much of a leap to believe that they'd be more likely to believe in the supernatural.

Why do you think that the Mayans and Egyptians built pyramids? Why do you think the Romans and Greeks had so many different gods?

Secular societies are a relatively new phenomenon.

[Prodigy54321]

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if history is any indicator, whatever you think is a truth today is probably incorrect.

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that's a stretch..although perhaps to the extent that "there is more to the story"...you are correct.

[greg nice]

anyone have any more old truths that look silly now?

[Kimbell175113]

uh,

-phlogiston (not sure how popular it was)

-spontaneous generation

-"the third raise was like Ivory Snow, 99.9% pure aces."

[KUJustin]

People on JayWalk fake being much stupider than they are for a variety of reasons (one of them, ironically, being to not expose their actual stupidity).

[bunny]

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anyone have any more old truths that look silly now?

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Anything moving is being acted on by a force.

[MidGe]

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"There is no god"

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That statement could not have preceded "there is a god". Great! The idea must soon or later be on its way out!

[Siegmund]

Let's bear in mind that hundreds of years ago a lot of people believed the earth was flat - but THOUSANDS of years ago, people knew it was round and even measured its diameter relatively accurately.

I think the main lesson is that there are very few truly new ideas -- and that most of the problems like the heretic-burning episodes have to do with people being too closed-minded to fairly evaluate the ideas, or with assuming that the uninformed majority 'must be right'. I don't think that "everything we think is true now will turn out to be wrong" is true and don't think it's a useful viewpoint in any case.

[NotReady]

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hundreds of years ago people were certain the earth was flat,


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This is a common myth of modernity perpetrated by people who can't spell google.

[arahant]

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hundreds of years ago people were certain the earth was flat,


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This is a common myth of modernity perpetrated by people who can't spell google.

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Agreed. The spherical earth appears to have been deduced by the pythagoreans (or thereabouts) and the idea spread very rapidly.

In fact, it was QUITE soon after the word of god in the old testament indicated the earth was flat, that this fact was discovered.

If only god had waited.

[NotReady]

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In fact, it was QUITE soon after the word of god in the old testament indicated the earth was flat, that this fact was discovered.

If only god had waited.


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But not only is the earth a sphere, it is also flat. I can prove it.

[MidGe]

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In fact, it was QUITE soon after the word of god in the old testament indicated the earth was flat, that this fact was discovered.

If only god had waited.


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But not only is the earth a sphere, it is also flat. I can prove it.

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It is in the bible! LOL /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Breauxdel]

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hundreds of years ago people were certain the earth was flat, and any speculation otherwise was considered as blasphemous as if someone today claimed they could live forever.


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moot to the question but I've heard that this actually wasnt true. Educated people in the late 1400's actually thought the earth was round.

[BruceZ]

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what are some other old truths in the same vein ?

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The existence of the ether as a medium for electromagnetic waves.

[Deorum]

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anyone have any more old truths that look silly now?

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The explanation of gravity as an object's desire to return to its "natural state."