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‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

singularityhub.com

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Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#21

Post by [deleted] »

gcatalfamo wrote: post #12
timkam wrote: post #10

I must say the Singularity Hub web presence looks snake-oily to me. Why do they call it a "university"? Why do they call some of the members "faculty"? Why do they claim Ray Kurzweil has "a thirty-year track record of accurate predictions"? ( https://singularityhub.com/experts/ ) Any idea why they brand it like this? Who is supposed to take this seriously? I'm EU-based and here you're not allowed to claim that your o…

It might have started in good faith, but now there are local chapters at least in EU, where people basically advertise themselves. So yeah it is snake oil now.

[deleted]

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#22

Post by reducesuffering »

progre wrote: post #17
reducesuffering wrote: post #15

I'm surprised the article didn't mention one of the most popular names for the "Seven Sisters," Subaru, the Japanese name and vehicle manufacturer whose logo contains six of the stars.

Subaru does not translate to "seven sisters" (or even six sisters) so bringing up Subaru would undermine the claim of the article

Not directly. Translation would be "to govern" or "gather together", but Subaru is one of the constellation's names in Japan, like it would also be called Pleiades in the West, deriving from "plein", meaning "to sail."[0]

[0]https://web.archive.org/web/20100411083646/http://www.subaru...

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#23

Post by stareatgoats »

timkam wrote: post #10

I must say the Singularity Hub web presence looks snake-oily to me. Why do they call it a "university"? Why do they call some of the members "faculty"? Why do they claim Ray Kurzweil has "a thirty-year track record of accurate predictions"? ( https://singularityhub.com/experts/ ) Any idea why they brand it like this? Who is supposed to take this seriously? I'm EU-based and here you're not allowed to claim that your o…

> Singularity Hub web presence looks snake-oily

That be as it may, I fail to see anything deceptive in the linked article. The widespread notion that the Pleiades have 7 stars while only 6 are visible is definitely interesting.

Not sure I buy the explanation though (that Pleione would have been visibly separable from Atlas 100.000 years ago, and that the memory of that time has lived on in myth). But they do put a question mark after the claim.

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#24

Post by yreg »

sgt wrote: post #16

Never heard of the seven sisters story, or if I did I might have forgotten about it. Do kids learn about this in school nowadays? Seems like it should be taught considering the potential age of the story.

We had a very kid-friendly book of ancient Greek myths[0] as part of mandatory reading (actually one of the first books I've read) and it includes this story.

It's a great way of learning — basically a fairy tale compilation, but the fairy tales are worthy of learning about. Also, the reader learns much about the historical setting.

Would be amazing to write/popularize similar books on other cultures as well. Perhaps the Judge Di series[1] about an 18th century Chinese detective comes close to that.

[0] Staré grécke báje a povesti https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16057997-star-gr-cke-b-j...

[1] Judge Dee https://www.goodreads.com/series/50669-judge-dee-chronologic...

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#25

Post by timkam »

russellallen wrote: post #20
timkam wrote: post #10

I must say the Singularity Hub web presence looks snake-oily to me. Why do they call it a "university"? Why do they call some of the members "faculty"? Why do they claim Ray Kurzweil has "a thirty-year track record of accurate predictions"? ( https://singularityhub.com/experts/ ) Any idea why they brand it like this? Who is supposed to take this seriously? I'm EU-based and here you're not allowed to claim that your o…

I don't know anything about the Singularity Hub, but this article is just a repost of a Creative Commons licensed article from The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-oldest-story-astronom... Ideally this story should be changed to this URL which has further comments by the author attached to it. Also The Conversation is a legitimate Australian academic site.

By adding an author profile and a list of other Singularity Hub articles by the author, they make it look like the author is part of the Singularity Hub community, but the two articles that he has written are both from The Conversation.

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#26

Post by lordnacho »

gostsamo wrote: post #6
not_knuth wrote: post #3

I can't help but feel that some combination of the Birthday paradox [0] and primates churning out stories [1] is going on here. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem

What accounts for the missing sister though? If the seventh sister was last visible 50000-100000 years ago, how the myths are trying to account for it now without the memory?

Perhaps there was a long time where people with slightly better eyesight could tell them apart while others couldn't, or when atmospheric conditions would obscure it. That might seed stories of the last sister being missing or coming and going.

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#27

Post by mellosouls »

It's a nice theory but sometimes simpler, less glamorous solutions might hold the truth.

There are more than 6 "sisters" visible with the naked eye, but most people normally can't see them.

It's more believable to me that the "missing" 7th sister is just the brightest of the less visible ones.

Those less visible would certainly have been used as a test of prowess for determining the keenest-eyed, especially among early societies where such skills were important.

"Ah, but can you find the hiding sister?"

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#28

Post by baxtr »

russellallen wrote: post #20
timkam wrote: post #10

I must say the Singularity Hub web presence looks snake-oily to me. Why do they call it a "university"? Why do they call some of the members "faculty"? Why do they claim Ray Kurzweil has "a thirty-year track record of accurate predictions"? ( https://singularityhub.com/experts/ ) Any idea why they brand it like this? Who is supposed to take this seriously? I'm EU-based and here you're not allowed to claim that your o…

I don't know anything about the Singularity Hub, but this article is just a repost of a Creative Commons licensed article from The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-oldest-story-astronom... Ideally this story should be changed to this URL which has further comments by the author attached to it. Also The Conversation is a legitimate Australian academic site.

wow. they basically copy & pasted the conversation article... or the other way around?

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#29

Post by thaumasiotes »

yreg wrote: post #24
sgt wrote: post #16

Never heard of the seven sisters story, or if I did I might have forgotten about it. Do kids learn about this in school nowadays? Seems like it should be taught considering the potential age of the story.

We had a very kid-friendly book of ancient Greek myths[0] as part of mandatory reading (actually one of the first books I've read) and it includes this story. It's a great way of learning — basically a fairy tale compilation, but the fairy tales are worthy of learning about. Also, the reader learns much about the historical setting. Would be amazing to write/popularize similar books on other cultures as well. Perhaps…

> Perhaps the Judge Di series[1] about an 18th century Chinese detective

No, the series is from the 18th century. Di Renjie lived in the 7th century.

Re: ‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years

#30

Post by kf »

timkam wrote: post #10

I must say the Singularity Hub web presence looks snake-oily to me. Why do they call it a "university"? Why do they call some of the members "faculty"? Why do they claim Ray Kurzweil has "a thirty-year track record of accurate predictions"? ( https://singularityhub.com/experts/ ) Any idea why they brand it like this? Who is supposed to take this seriously? I'm EU-based and here you're not allowed to claim that your o…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_University In America, university holds no special branding, and American companies aren't great about respecting EU branding law. See California Champagne and Kraft Parmesan cheese. I don't think anyone attending Singularity University thinks it is a real university; their paying audience generally already has a university degree.

Singularity University is basically an overpriced executive MBA program, mostly paid for by non Americans excited to visit Silicon Valley. For people with infinite money looking for a taste of Silicon Valley and wanting to invest in cutting edge stuff here, their actual educational materials are totally acceptable.

I used to work with their current law and blockchain lecturer.

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