The other day, I amused myself by calling a couple of my Italian friend and wishing them a "happy Indigenous Peoples Day." The gag, of course, is that Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas in 1492 has recently been decreed an atrocity by our
What's missing from the "debate" cum lecture is the PURPOSE of the holiday - which reflects the PURPOSE of the original voyage. This had nothing to do with racial conquest or "planting the white seed" on a new continent. It was discovery - exploration - for the sake of potentially finding a faster route to Asia. Instead, Columbus discovered a new continent. What others would or might do centuries later is not relevant to the story of Columbus' expedition and discovery. It's not as if it wasn't going to happen eventually - can you imagine 15th, 16th or 17th century Europeans adopting a "Prime Directive" that they'll have no contact with an alien race until they detect a "sail signature" from that race? That's just nuts! That philosophy, seeking to preserve a culture from advanced civilizational despoiling wouldn't occur to anybody until the mid-20th century.
Given what happened in the Americas when a technologically advanced civilization met one less so and less able to fend off the diseases travelling with the explorers, perhaps we shouldn't be in such a hurry to advertise our presence to the rest of the galaxy.
Yes. I have read it and I cannot understand the praise so many have for this book. A woman whose father was mistreated during the Cultural Revolution decides that the best way of handling the situation is to invite a bunch of genocidal aliens to earth.
It's just one of many theories. I'm of the opinion that it's an unlikely one, given that the odds of two technological civilizations that are of near-parity noticing each other seem (and yes, this is just me handwaving) remarkably low. We've been technological for a couple hundred years, and may be just a couple hundred (or less) from some "singularity" transformation. The universe is 14B years old.
For another civilization to exist in that window *and* nearby seems unlikely, and that's reinforced by the "where are they?" silence.
A civilization that's thousands or tens of thousands of years ahead of us is one that might have no reason to treat us as anything more than a curiosity.
When I read about how terrible the explorers were, I contemplate how things would have turned out if the Aztecs had discovered Europe instead of the other way around.
I've seen it mentioned multiple times that the European expansion into the Americas was inevitable, as was the disease wipeout. If not Columbus, someone else.
I just watched a vid today that noted that the Americas did not have draft animals, something that stalled progress. Again, the dominance of Europeans seems inevitable.
What's missing from the "debate" cum lecture is the PURPOSE of the holiday - which reflects the PURPOSE of the original voyage. This had nothing to do with racial conquest or "planting the white seed" on a new continent. It was discovery - exploration - for the sake of potentially finding a faster route to Asia. Instead, Columbus discovered a new continent. What others would or might do centuries later is not relevant to the story of Columbus' expedition and discovery. It's not as if it wasn't going to happen eventually - can you imagine 15th, 16th or 17th century Europeans adopting a "Prime Directive" that they'll have no contact with an alien race until they detect a "sail signature" from that race? That's just nuts! That philosophy, seeking to preserve a culture from advanced civilizational despoiling wouldn't occur to anybody until the mid-20th century.
Given what happened in the Americas when a technologically advanced civilization met one less so and less able to fend off the diseases travelling with the explorers, perhaps we shouldn't be in such a hurry to advertise our presence to the rest of the galaxy.
Have you read Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem?
Yes. I have read it and I cannot understand the praise so many have for this book. A woman whose father was mistreated during the Cultural Revolution decides that the best way of handling the situation is to invite a bunch of genocidal aliens to earth.
Did you read the full trilogy?
No. The first book was such a bad experience that I just read detailed synopses of the remainder of the series.
Having stumbled upon Hispaniola on his way to the Indies, should Columbus have turned around and headed home?
Why do we assume that if others exist in the galaxy, they’re more technologically advanced than us, in ways we’d consider advanced?
It's just one of many theories. I'm of the opinion that it's an unlikely one, given that the odds of two technological civilizations that are of near-parity noticing each other seem (and yes, this is just me handwaving) remarkably low. We've been technological for a couple hundred years, and may be just a couple hundred (or less) from some "singularity" transformation. The universe is 14B years old.
For another civilization to exist in that window *and* nearby seems unlikely, and that's reinforced by the "where are they?" silence.
A civilization that's thousands or tens of thousands of years ahead of us is one that might have no reason to treat us as anything more than a curiosity.
When I read about how terrible the explorers were, I contemplate how things would have turned out if the Aztecs had discovered Europe instead of the other way around.
Or, how about if the Aztecs decided to take a journey northward? Would they too have slaughtered the indigenous cultures of North America?
I've seen it mentioned multiple times that the European expansion into the Americas was inevitable, as was the disease wipeout. If not Columbus, someone else.
I just watched a vid today that noted that the Americas did not have draft animals, something that stalled progress. Again, the dominance of Europeans seems inevitable.