11–20 of 22 posts
https://x.com/waitbutwhy/status/1292882798982967296/photo/1 I hope that before I shuffle off we have agents that can emulate these people with subtlety and depth, and I can invite them over for long chats. Have them available as podcast guests. Assign high school students to interview them. Face them off in ideological cage matches. Learn first hand from them about the plasticity of human ethics and culture. Hire Bee…
I wish this silly "gotcha" fact about Oxford being older than the Aztecs would go away. All it's saying is that most people don't know enough about Mesoamerican civilizations to differentiate clearly between the Aztec and the Maya; the Maya have been around since long before Oxford and that's why people anchor 'the Aztecs' in the distant past. This should be pretty obvious. It's like saying "Did you know that the Azt…
I remember walking around Oxford and seeing "New College" with the date of 1379
But the really mind boggling numbers are in the Mediterranean. Naples is originally Nea Polis in Greek, so "New City". Barely 2700 years old.
Civilization is really old in some places.
"The year 2024 is closer in time to Cleopatra than the Egyptian queen’s life was to the construction of the pyramids." It's truly astonishing how old Egypt is. The sphinx is 4500 years old! I listened to Bob Brier's course on ancient Egypt (from TGC) and it was mind-blowing.
Egypt's greatest legacy is that its early history was so spectacular, and evidence of that is so visible today.
I wish this silly "gotcha" fact about Oxford being older than the Aztecs would go away. All it's saying is that most people don't know enough about Mesoamerican civilizations to differentiate clearly between the Aztec and the Maya; the Maya have been around since long before Oxford and that's why people anchor 'the Aztecs' in the distant past. This should be pretty obvious. It's like saying "Did you know that the Azt…
Ok here’s another: they were teaching at the University of Oxford before the Māori discovered and settled New Zealand.
"The year 2024 is closer in time to Cleopatra than the Egyptian queen’s life was to the construction of the pyramids." It's truly astonishing how old Egypt is. The sphinx is 4500 years old! I listened to Bob Brier's course on ancient Egypt (from TGC) and it was mind-blowing.
Indeed, Stonehenge is not much older. But given that, in human history, Egypt has always been an island of fertile land in a sea of desert, it's not so surprising that the area has persisted as a separate political, social and cultural entity, even when remembering that in fact it has constituted multiple kingdoms and dynasties over its history. Egypt's greatest legacy is that its early history was so spectacular, an…
I wish this silly "gotcha" fact about Oxford being older than the Aztecs would go away. All it's saying is that most people don't know enough about Mesoamerican civilizations to differentiate clearly between the Aztec and the Maya; the Maya have been around since long before Oxford and that's why people anchor 'the Aztecs' in the distant past. This should be pretty obvious. It's like saying "Did you know that the Azt…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, Stonehenge is not much older. But given that, in human history, Egypt has always been an island of fertile land in a sea of desert, it's not so surprising that the area has persisted as a separate political, social and cultural entity, even when remembering that in fact it has constituted multiple kingdoms and dynasties over its history. Egypt's greatest legacy is that its early history was so spectacular, an…
Visit it before the brotherhood takes over and starts blowing up "heathen monuments" like the taliban or isis.
But just a few hundred years ago the near ancestors of the people who live in Cairo right now decided to steal the marble casing, and that's why the pyramids are now jagged granite.
I wish this silly "gotcha" fact about Oxford being older than the Aztecs would go away. All it's saying is that most people don't know enough about Mesoamerican civilizations to differentiate clearly between the Aztec and the Maya; the Maya have been around since long before Oxford and that's why people anchor 'the Aztecs' in the distant past. This should be pretty obvious. It's like saying "Did you know that the Azt…
It sounds shocking because it's one sentence which delivers two surprises; Oxford is older than expected and the Aztec empire is more recent than expected.
It's like saying "the population of the City of London is only 8500 people!" - it's only surprising because it's misleading.