Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

phys.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 159 posts

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#141

Post by chema »

Someone wrote: post #112
chema wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. Years ago I made what is essentially a Unix time / Maya Long Count converter and I was very pleased with how similar they were in concept (i.e. counting seconds or days from a particular epoch) with the only major difference being the base 10 vs base 20. https://github.com/chema/long-count

> I was very pleased with how similar they were in concept (i.e. counting seconds or days from a particular epoch) I don’t think there are many alternatives. Counting backwards would either mean diving into negative numbers or postponing that by starting at an arbitrary high number. “In the x-th year of ruler Y” plus a knowledge of the succession of rulers is awkward for recording over centuries. I expect that has be…

Most calendars still use internal cycles. These two calendars are more comparable to the astronomical Julian Day.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#142

Post by smolder »

tough wrote: post #87
voz_ wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask Plato

The concept of where definitions reside is a philosophical question that has been debated for centuries. One prominent view is that definitions exist in a realm of abstract objects, separate from the physical world, as argued by Plato in his theory of Forms. However, other philosophers have proposed different views, such as the idea that definitions are constructed through language and human understanding. Ultimately…

Please don't post LLM content without a reason and without disclaimer.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#143

Post by tough »

smolder wrote: post #142
tough wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The concept of where definitions reside is a philosophical question that has been debated for centuries. One prominent view is that definitions exist in a realm of abstract objects, separate from the physical world, as argued by Plato in his theory of Forms. However, other philosophers have proposed different views, such as the idea that definitions are constructed through language and human understanding. Ultimately…

Please don't post LLM content without a reason and without disclaimer.

Sorry I was lazy

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#144

Post by fanf2 »

Someone wrote: post #112
chema wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. Years ago I made what is essentially a Unix time / Maya Long Count converter and I was very pleased with how similar they were in concept (i.e. counting seconds or days from a particular epoch) with the only major difference being the base 10 vs base 20. https://github.com/chema/long-count

> I was very pleased with how similar they were in concept (i.e. counting seconds or days from a particular epoch) I don’t think there are many alternatives. Counting backwards would either mean diving into negative numbers or postponing that by starting at an arbitrary high number. “In the x-th year of ruler Y” plus a knowledge of the succession of rulers is awkward for recording over centuries. I expect that has be…

The reason the Julian day number is important is because Joseph Justus Scaliger went to enormous effort to create a consistent chronology of ancient and mediaeval history from records that mostly used regnal years. Sometimes they might use other calendars, or refer to the 19 year metonic cycle (determining the date of easter) or the day of the week (a 28 year cycle) or the year in the indiction cycle (a 15 year tax period in the eastern roman / byzantine empire). His chronology covered several non-european cultures as well as graeco-roman history. It is neat that astronomers are using a modernized version of his dating system, so ancient records can be more easily matched to modern observations.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#145

Post by wglb »

eru wrote: post #43
sammalloy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before the light pollution got really bad where I live due to development, provided it wasn’t cloudy, I could see the Milky Way every night for about 15 years. Now, it’s gone due to lax rules and regulations due to commercial security light fixtures which throw light in all direction at night to deter thieves. It’s pretty upsetting, but even worse, most people I talk to don’t even notice it’s gone. That’s almost more…

Well, I've never seen the milky way in the sky with my own eyes.

I grew up in Montana and saw the Milky Way every non-cloudy night

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#146

Post by CatWChainsaw »

rcxdude wrote: post #81
voz_ wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a nonsense definition. Science absolutely must follow the scientific method. What you are talking about is natural philosophy and protosciences - its the difference between alchemy and chemistry - which is all the difference in the world.

I promise you actual scientists spend far less time thinking about the scientific method and the philosophy of science than their cheerleaders do.

We're too busy cleaning up data and wondering if the flow cytometer is clogged for the third time this week. That and grants/reports/meetings.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#147

Post by CatWChainsaw »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #123
maweki wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you're attributing malice when stupidity suffices. Hanlon's razor.

Hanlon's razor is great and all. But sometimes there really is just a lot of malice and stupidity at the same time.

Stupidity is itself malicious. CatWChainsaw's Nastier Razor.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#148

Post by eru »

mandmandam wrote: post #120
eru wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world is a better place now for more people than ever before. If anything, we are escaping hell, not descending into it.

People, yeah maybe. Though the threat of actual apocalypse is higher than it's been for 99.99% of human history. Also, the 99+% of the other species on the planet would probably have a dim view of our 'progress', as would people who respect them.

The environment in most rich countries, especially in Europe (and especially ex-Warsaw Pact Europe), is in a lot better shape today than eg most of the 20th century.

(Of course, you can argue it's still in a worse shape than two thousand years ago.)

As other countries get richer, they also tend to start cleaning up their act. Have a look at the great strides China made in the last two decades.

> Also, the 99+% of the other species on the planet would probably have a dim view of our 'progress', as would people who respect them.

Most of the life on the rest of the planet are bacteria and archaea etc and the phages that prey on them. They are doing just fine. Of course, exactly how you divide them into species is a bit of a matter of debate. But no matter how you slice them up, they represent the vast majority of biodiversity on the planet.

I respect them a lot.

You might like http://2015phage.org/art.php

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#149

Post by trinsic2 »

smolder wrote: post #140
trinsic2 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are different scientific methods and different senses that need to be used for abstract topics like Alchemy. Just because most of the worlds population lost the ability to use these other senses to understand the science behind Alchemy does not make it any less important. What you are referring to in your one-size-fits-all "Scientific Method" is called Scientism. A belief, just like religion, that the only meth…

Are you actually on HN arguing that alchemy is some kind of real thing, a skill that we lost? Different senses? Is this a joke? My understanding of alchemy is that its practitioners tried to transmute matter from one kind to another, e.g. lead to gold, because they didn't know enough about how matter worked to know they'd always fail.

Yes It really was and is a thing. There are lots of people on Hacker News that are not in the place of dismissing things they don't understand. And yes it was a skill that was lost. The only joke is the fact that people lost touch with a lot of ancient knowledge and think everything revolves around this so called accepted "Scientific Method" belief that has dominated our world for way too long.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#150

Post by [deleted] »

stephen_g wrote: post #126
eru wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting website. The closest dark sky place I can find on their map is about 2,630km (or 63h drive according to Google Maps) away from me.

Not sure what their criteria is, they don't have any marked in my state (Queensland, Australia) even though there would probably (seriously) be an area bigger than the whole of France here out west where you can see the milky way with your bare eyes.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN