Live data from Hacker News

Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

geacron.com

21–30 of 152 posts

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#21
post #20

I always wanted something like a "History of human progress" which when zoomed out shows me something like this: -2000000 Stone tools -1000000 Using fire -6000 Metal tools -6000 Agriculture -4000 Writing 1550 Printing 1888 Telephones 1888 Cars 1903 Planes 1941 Penicillin 1941 First computer 1982 Homecomputers 1983 Mobile phones 1990 The internet 2001 Wikipedia 2004 Facebook 2007 IPhone 2022 ChatGPT And then I can zoo…

Facebook was not ”human progress”. Future historians will point to its founding as a pivotal point of regression of democracy and humanity.

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#22

The issue is that the timeline is built in a Eurocentric way. Europe (and the Near East) are shown as the starting point of history, while Africa, Asia, and the Americas only appear when Europeans make contact with them. This hides thousands of years of independent development in those regions—empires, and creates the false impression that they had no real history before Europe showed up. It repeats an old colonial s…

Similarly overlooked is the philosophy of the Americas before European colonization. A great read I recommend to anyone who’s interested: “ Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion” by James Maffie

It obviously only focuses on the Aztecs so hardly a deep dive on all there is to learn.

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#23
post #21
post #20

I always wanted something like a "History of human progress" which when zoomed out shows me something like this: -2000000 Stone tools -1000000 Using fire -6000 Metal tools -6000 Agriculture -4000 Writing 1550 Printing 1888 Telephones 1888 Cars 1903 Planes 1941 Penicillin 1941 First computer 1982 Homecomputers 1983 Mobile phones 1990 The internet 2001 Wikipedia 2004 Facebook 2007 IPhone 2022 ChatGPT And then I can zoo…

Facebook was not ”human progress”. Future historians will point to its founding as a pivotal point of regression of democracy and humanity.

I put Facebook up there to point towards the beginning of social media.

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#24
post #21
post #20

I always wanted something like a "History of human progress" which when zoomed out shows me something like this: -2000000 Stone tools -1000000 Using fire -6000 Metal tools -6000 Agriculture -4000 Writing 1550 Printing 1888 Telephones 1888 Cars 1903 Planes 1941 Penicillin 1941 First computer 1982 Homecomputers 1983 Mobile phones 1990 The internet 2001 Wikipedia 2004 Facebook 2007 IPhone 2022 ChatGPT And then I can zoo…

Facebook was not ”human progress”. Future historians will point to its founding as a pivotal point of regression of democracy and humanity.

In a grand view removed 1000 years from now the introduction of digital communication and their network effects must have been pivotal though even if it was in a negative way (which very well may be). I just doubt that would then be a point about Facebook specifically as this is just a tiny slice of that era, I think.

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#25

I've been having fun with the following AI prompt recently: > You roleplay as the various Ancient Roman (Year 0) people I encounter as an accidental time traveler. Respond in a manner and in a language they would actually use to respond to me. Describe only what I can hear and see and sense in English, never translate or indicate what others are trying to say. I am suddenly and surprisingly teleported back in time an…

Reminds me of this book for children I read when I was was young: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/974324.Crusade_in_Jeans

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#26
post #23
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook was not ”human progress”. Future historians will point to its founding as a pivotal point of regression of democracy and humanity.

I put Facebook up there to point towards the beginning of social media.

Social media was "progress" in the same sense that atomic weapons were.

They certainly have their proponents, and they certainly led to measurable effects on society, so I agree their inventions were important. But "progress"?

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#27
post #23
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook was not ”human progress”. Future historians will point to its founding as a pivotal point of regression of democracy and humanity.

I put Facebook up there to point towards the beginning of social media.

There was social media before Facebook, though.

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#28
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't make this political, especially since it's about a cool project and not the minutia of the data. I'm sure you don't want the Iranians claiming ownership of the region due to whatever Cyrus and Darius would have conquered.

Why not? History matters.

Sure, history matters, but I'll return the burden on you to argue why Israel/Palestine matters specifically in this context. Otherwise, it's irrelevant noise to the topic at hand.

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#29
post #27
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I put Facebook up there to point towards the beginning of social media.

There was social media before Facebook, though.

I think if social media is WW1, then the launch of Facebook will be considered as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Not in itself sufficient, but a point that really got some important balls rolling.

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#30

The issue is that the timeline is built in a Eurocentric way. Europe (and the Near East) are shown as the starting point of history, while Africa, Asia, and the Americas only appear when Europeans make contact with them. This hides thousands of years of independent development in those regions—empires, and creates the false impression that they had no real history before Europe showed up. It repeats an old colonial s…

The map certainly is not built in a eurocentric way. It does reflect the fact that the political history of Eurasia and the Mediterranean region are much better studied and better understood, but this is hardly the fault of the creator of the map. Do you have a better political map of the Americas two thousand years ago?
Post reply on HN