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The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

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

#61

Post by alberth »

avodonosov wrote: post #40
dmbche wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking at it quickly it seems that 819 might be the number that lets the multiplier be as small as possible, since they are saying that all planets fit in a 45 year timeline I assume all mutipliers are smaller than 45..maybe that's the most handy form of optimization for their uses? Both number remain quite small, compared to 18*273.

> They noted that for Mercury, the synod period is 117 days, which, when multiplied by seven, equals 819 So for Mercury the multiplier is 1/7. Doesn't look very convenient. It would be more natural to use 117 as the magic number. Of course, convinience depends on their arithmetics. Looking from our decimal system perspective could be misleading. I was thinking maybe smaller divider can produce meaningless results wit…

Maybe the Mayans didn’t know of Mercury existence.

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun in our Solar System. Because it is so close to the Sun, it is only observable in the early morning, just before sunrise, or at dusk.

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/visible-planets-guide#:~:text....

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

#62

Post by i67vw3 »

fooker wrote: post #53
egypturnash wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's basically no surviving Mayan literature, thanks to the hard work of the Catholic church. So good luck finding more evidence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization#Writing_and_...

It's a miracle that India was spared this fate. All thanks to the East India Company being a soulless megacorp devoted to profits instead of religious zeal like the other colonists.

Even before East India Company, India faced several outsider attacks.

From Alexander the Great to various Khan's, then Mughals, then Portuguese etc. Some important Indian texts were burned/destoryed in these attacks, For eg., the Nalanda University

Still, a lot of texts remained both in written format and in Oral format.

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

#63

Post by trinsic2 »

voz_ wrote: post #44
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Science doesn't have some super clear, strict, reductive definition like the "scientific method" you may have been taught in school. The idea that all science must make or test predictions is just based on an old misinterpretation of the philosophy of Karl Popper, mainly by physicists. The only real general requirement I think you can make is that all science involves some level of interrogation and study of the phys…

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.

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 method that matters is the accepted method.

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

#65

Post by nelox »

irrational wrote: post #24
culi wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know it wasn't 2012?

Seriously. Looking around, I would not be surprised to learn we have already passed the end of the world and have moved into hell.

Maybe we never left

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

#66

Post by dang »

aaomidi wrote: post #46
dang wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've banned this account for repeated ideological trolling. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Looking through their comment history nothing stood out, and unfortunately the comment they made is now invisible :( Im now very curious what the straw was that broke the camels back.

You can see dead comments by turning 'showdead' on in your profile. This is in the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html.

If you do that, just please realize that (1) you're signing up to see the worst that the internet brings to HN (because we don't delete any of those posts - the most we do is kill them), and (2) don't forget that you did it! We regularly get emails from users complaining about awful comments on HN, and then it turns out those accounts were banned a long time ago and the user just forgot that they had 'showdead' on.

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

#67

Post by trinsic2 »

voz_ wrote: post #60
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what is the scientific method, in your mind, exactly?

I am not taking your bait, because to quote you: > Science doesn't have some super clear, strict, reductive definition like the "scientific method" you may have been taught in school. This is peak anti-intellectualism, this is the exact kind of school bashing that Isaac Asimov warned us about. There is no definition of it "in my mind", this is not about opinion vs opinion here, friend.

This is anti-intellectualism in the sense that the world is unbalanced when the focus is solely on the intellect. Reason is important, but its not the only facility that matters in this world. The reason why there is so much negativity towards intellectualism is that our world has been shaped in a horrific way due to this imbalance.

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

#68

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

voz_ wrote: post #60
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what is the scientific method, in your mind, exactly?

I am not taking your bait, because to quote you: > Science doesn't have some super clear, strict, reductive definition like the "scientific method" you may have been taught in school. This is peak anti-intellectualism, this is the exact kind of school bashing that Isaac Asimov warned us about. There is no definition of it "in my mind", this is not about opinion vs opinion here, friend.

So I'm supposed to divine what you're thinking because you think it's bait?

I ask, because usually, when I hear people say "hurr durr scientific method", the defition that comes out of their mouth excludes almost all of science except 2 or 3 fields. And I'm not interested in having a discussion with a silly disagreement in terminology at the core.

I'm not sure where you're getting all your veiled insults from. I'm not an anti-intellectual, and I'm not bashing school. But yes, kids get taught straight up incorrect things in school all the time. That doesn't mean I think school is bad, in fact I encourage it. It's just a fundamental consequence of the fact that information is never perfect, and neither are the teachers or authors communicating it.

Try to examine your own biases and figure out why you're placing me in some kinda crackpot category just because I think anthropology is a valid field of science.

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

#69

Post by govolckurself »

tshaddox wrote: post #50
mustacheemperor wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Led by Bishop Diego De Landa, specifically. >We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction. The same individual of whom it's been said >ninety-nine percent of what we today know of the Mayas, we know as the result…

That quote still shocks me every time I read it. Such depravity.

[dead]

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

#70

Post by yadingus »

voz_ wrote: post #60
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what is the scientific method, in your mind, exactly?

I am not taking your bait, because to quote you: > Science doesn't have some super clear, strict, reductive definition like the "scientific method" you may have been taught in school. This is peak anti-intellectualism, this is the exact kind of school bashing that Isaac Asimov warned us about. There is no definition of it "in my mind", this is not about opinion vs opinion here, friend.

> There is no definition of it "in my mind"

Where do you think definitions reside?

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