When Orcs Were Real • Hacker News Board

Re: When Orcs Were Real

#111

Post by nxmnxm99 » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 2:06 PM UTC

beaconstudios wrote: post #72

soapdog wrote: post #24

> Europeans defeated indigenous peoples throughout history, by superior technology and numbers. Oh boi, not this horrible and flawed argument again. People have learned nothing from recent research into the impact of diseases in that history? Popular books like "Guns, Germs, and Steel", and "1491" give you a view into these matters and provide one with references for their sources for research. This idea of "Europe w…

Why not both? The Conquistadors had guns and steel armour and swords, versus the Mesoamericans' copper, bronze and obsidian weapons plus bows & atlatls. Technologically, the Spanish had the advantage, and won militarily. In addition, the indigenous population was ravaged by disease brought by the colonisers. Having better weapons is not an argument to ethnic superiority. It comes down to geography and history. The my…

They had better tech and horses. Certainly not "outnumbering" them. That + their immune systems is why they won.

Re: When Orcs Were Real

#112

Post by throwaway316943 » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 2:08 PM UTC

betwixthewires wrote: post #81

shp0ngle wrote: post #2

The first comment on the substack links to this article, from 2010, that basically refutes this theory and this book. https://blog.waikato.ac.nz/bioblog/2010/10/killer-neandertal...

Thanks for this, I didn't see the comment in the article. The minute I saw "horizontal slit eyes" I was pretty much done. There's literally no way to know if that was true, for that to be a claim in a proposed theory rightly discredits that theory. I can see them being hairy. But deducing from having larger eyes that they'd be nocturnal and therefore have horizontal slit eyes... And then there's the issue of the flat…

The facial description did sound like quite a stretch. If anything, a more human face would be even more terrifying. These creatures are often described as very close to human but with savagely exaggerated features. An ape with a snout is more understandable than a monstrous face with large, staring eyes, huge mouth and deformed nose. Look at any traditional depiction of human like monsters and those are the features you’ll see.

Re: When Orcs Were Real

#113

Post by beaconstudios » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 2:09 PM UTC

nxmnxm99 wrote: post #111

beaconstudios wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not both? The Conquistadors had guns and steel armour and swords, versus the Mesoamericans' copper, bronze and obsidian weapons plus bows & atlatls. Technologically, the Spanish had the advantage, and won militarily. In addition, the indigenous population was ravaged by disease brought by the colonisers. Having better weapons is not an argument to ethnic superiority. It comes down to geography and history. The my…

They had better tech and horses. Certainly not "outnumbering" them. That + their immune systems is why they won.

I think you replied to the wrong person, I said the same thing as you.

Re: When Orcs Were Real

#114

Post by Igelau » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 2:16 PM UTC

KptMarchewa wrote: post #16

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always though that dragons were also sourced from a vague genetic memory passed down from very remote ancestors that met dino descendants.

Or found their skeletons.

I agree. Imagine finding something like a Pachycephalosaurus skeleton without a modern education.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pachycephalosaurus_w...

If you're in a pre-civilized, just-barely-scraping-by survival mode, you'd probably conclude: (1) this thing was a monster, and if it lived here I'm not safe. (2) This thing must have been killed by something worse, and if it's around I'm really not safe.

Re: When Orcs Were Real

#115

Post by AbrahamParangi » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 2:21 PM UTC

Igelau wrote: post #108

littlestymaar wrote: post #54

> and carried off and raped our women. (How did you think the Neanderthal DNA got into our genome?) I don't know if Neandertals were rapist, but given the behavior of Sapiens, it wouldn't be completely surprising if it was in fact the opposite: Sapiens abducting Neandertal females and raping them…

That's kind of tricky considering how much stronger and more robust an average Neanderthal would have been compared to an average Sapiens.

They were approximately the same size as us. Shorter but wider and on the whole around the same weight.

Re: When Orcs Were Real

#116

Post by COGlory » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 2:21 PM UTC

Folcon wrote: post #76

soapdog wrote: post #24

> Europeans defeated indigenous peoples throughout history, by superior technology and numbers. Oh boi, not this horrible and flawed argument again. People have learned nothing from recent research into the impact of diseases in that history? Popular books like "Guns, Germs, and Steel", and "1491" give you a view into these matters and provide one with references for their sources for research. This idea of "Europe w…

"Guns, Germs, and Steel" is a good book, really enjoyable read. But speaking to historian friends of mine has given me the impression that it's not highly regarded in those circles. Unfortunately I can't give any criticisms beyond that because it has been a long time since I had those discussions and the details just don't come to mind, so I guess really what I'm saying is though it's a popular and enjoyable read, pe…

Brett Deveraux touches on this here:

https://acoup.blog/2021/05/28/collections-teaching-paradox-e...

Re: When Orcs Were Real

#117

Post by ohples » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 2:24 PM UTC

TIL what "InfoGalactic" is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_Day#Infogalactic

After clicking some of the links in this article I went to what looked very much like wikipedia, so much so i went on a typical half hour wikipedia-dive, but wasn't actually wikipeida (I have a big monitor and the links I clicked all directed to subsections of articles so I didn't see the info-galactic logo at the top).

Really puts this article in a whole new (bad) light.

Re: When Orcs Were Real

#118

Post by AbrahamParangi » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 2:24 PM UTC

Sometimes heterodox means “interesting and unfairly dismissed” and sometimes it means “absolutely nuts”.

If Neanderthals were alive today I doubt we’d even class them as a separate species.

Re: When Orcs Were Real

#119

Post by littlestymaar » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 2:29 PM UTC

Igelau wrote: post #108

littlestymaar wrote: post #54

> and carried off and raped our women. (How did you think the Neanderthal DNA got into our genome?) I don't know if Neandertals were rapist, but given the behavior of Sapiens, it wouldn't be completely surprising if it was in fact the opposite: Sapiens abducting Neandertal females and raping them…

That's kind of tricky considering how much stronger and more robust an average Neanderthal would have been compared to an average Sapiens.

Ambush, outnumbering, night raiding, etc. War is almost never a matter of who have the upper hand in a one-vs-one fair combat…

Re: When Orcs Were Real

#120

Post by harimau777 » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 2:31 PM UTC

b112 wrote: post #26

Bayart wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes less sense than imaginations running wild at the sight of crocodiles and dinosaur bones.

Even the fisherman's tale of how big the fish was, applies. Some guy with a sword kills a big croc, which is a good feat! Yet each telling the croc is bigger, more fierce, especially as the alcohol flows. His grandkids hear the story too.

Don't forget hippos! Their skin can be up to two inches thick. That would be incredibly difficult to penetrate with stone age (or even later) weapons.