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Hundreds of skulls reveal massive scale of human sacrifice in Aztec capital

sciencemag.org

21–30 of 322 posts

Re: Hundreds of skulls reveal massive scale of human sacrifice in Aztec capital

#21

I know this comment won't be accepted too well here, but as people become vegetarians/vegans even, but more importantly start seeing animals as other beings with souls - it becomes clear how barbaric our society STILL is. Again, only visible to some people that have rejected some pretty common norms. It is interesting because in those times it was politically and socially acceptable to be OK with other humans being s…

>> As a species we really don't have a built in moral system, it's nearly 100% socially driven morals.

Our built is moral system is biology. We as a species are omnivores which means we have a predisposition to be O.K. with killing and processing game for food.

I think its more of a miracle we are able to put our personal morals above biology and opt out of it.

Re: Hundreds of skulls reveal massive scale of human sacrifice in Aztec capital

#22

I know this comment won't be accepted too well here, but as people become vegetarians/vegans even, but more importantly start seeing animals as other beings with souls - it becomes clear how barbaric our society STILL is. Again, only visible to some people that have rejected some pretty common norms. It is interesting because in those times it was politically and socially acceptable to be OK with other humans being s…

What is a 'soul'? What animals have one?

Re: Hundreds of skulls reveal massive scale of human sacrifice in Aztec capital

#23
post #22

I know this comment won't be accepted too well here, but as people become vegetarians/vegans even, but more importantly start seeing animals as other beings with souls - it becomes clear how barbaric our society STILL is. Again, only visible to some people that have rejected some pretty common norms. It is interesting because in those times it was politically and socially acceptable to be OK with other humans being s…

What is a 'soul'? What animals have one?

Apologies for that terminology, I personally believe in that, so for anyone else, scratch that note and replace with (start seeing animals that have the same right to live here as humans) and being more pedantic, if you believe humans being animals, scratch the distinction, and replace with animals of the species of human. I'm sure I'm offending more people in trying to fix this comment lol.

Re: Hundreds of skulls reveal massive scale of human sacrifice in Aztec capital

#26

I know this comment won't be accepted too well here, but as people become vegetarians/vegans even, but more importantly start seeing animals as other beings with souls - it becomes clear how barbaric our society STILL is. Again, only visible to some people that have rejected some pretty common norms. It is interesting because in those times it was politically and socially acceptable to be OK with other humans being s…

Do you believe all other forms of life have souls?

I'm curious because you made the vegetarian and vegan argument which I always find interesting. I was raised Hindu (now atheist) and the religion has a belief that all forms of life have a soul and have consciousness. As a consequence of this you accept that in order to live, your life relies on extinguishing other forms of life. I always find it weird that when people talk about diet, animal rights, and souls, there is an arbitrary distinction between animals and the rest of organism (plants, fungi, bacteria, etc.). The concept of a soul is an abstract non-scientific belief, so given its an abstract concept with no scientific basis, why do we make a distinction between one form of life and another?

Re: Hundreds of skulls reveal massive scale of human sacrifice in Aztec capital

#27

I know this comment won't be accepted too well here, but as people become vegetarians/vegans even, but more importantly start seeing animals as other beings with souls - it becomes clear how barbaric our society STILL is. Again, only visible to some people that have rejected some pretty common norms. It is interesting because in those times it was politically and socially acceptable to be OK with other humans being s…

I saw a car hit a deer on I-95 at least a decade ago. It was horrifying, and it looked like the passengers could have died. They were okay, but the level of wreckage and the fact that it happened on a highway made it clear how dangerous that can be.

So it’s interesting to read you not really caring that this guy went through a potentially horrifying event, and then judging him for not treating the story of his own experience with the same emotions you felt.

None of this is to say anyone wants deers to be hit by cars. My question is how would you make this different? That guy being sad isn’t going to bring the deer back to life, and it’s not going to prevent the next deer from being hit by a car either. And going vegan won’t prevent it. Why does his emotional behavior reaction matter enough to make a judgment on him?

Re: Hundreds of skulls reveal massive scale of human sacrifice in Aztec capital

#28
Human sacrifice occurred in the Americas, that is well established. But similar things did happen elsewhere. In Europe, Asia and Asia... at massive scale.

What is the Roman Catholic Inquisition exactly? It can be oversimplified to burning people so God is happy. It is a form of human sacrifice. Up to 300,000 people died that way.

So if we are going to talk about human sacrifice let's apply the term consistently.

Re: Hundreds of skulls reveal massive scale of human sacrifice in Aztec capital

#29

I know this comment won't be accepted too well here, but as people become vegetarians/vegans even, but more importantly start seeing animals as other beings with souls - it becomes clear how barbaric our society STILL is. Again, only visible to some people that have rejected some pretty common norms. It is interesting because in those times it was politically and socially acceptable to be OK with other humans being s…

Do you believe all other forms of life have souls? I'm curious because you made the vegetarian and vegan argument which I always find interesting. I was raised Hindu (now atheist) and the religion has a belief that all forms of life have a soul and have consciousness. As a consequence of this you accept that in order to live, your life relies on extinguishing other forms of life. I always find it weird that when peop…

Because I don't want to be eaten if I become mentally disabled in an accident, but I want to eat things that could perform equivalently on some tests.

Re: Hundreds of skulls reveal massive scale of human sacrifice in Aztec capital

#30
post #11

Interesting timing soon after a review of a recent book about Cortés: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/05/24/mexico-curse-of-c... The review says that "most estimates of the frequency of human sacrifices in Tenochtitlan come from an unfounded assertion by the Franciscan friar Diego Valadés, who was born twenty-two years after the city fell. Valadés claimed that between 15,000 and 20,000 people were sacrificed in…

That entire review is ridiculous. So much bias and selective use of historical information to suit the writer’s opinion.
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