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

Notes from tired Egyptian whose job is explaining that humans built the pyramids

mcsweeneys.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 194 posts

Re: Notes from tired Egyptian whose job is explaining that humans built the pyramids

#91

Post by marshray »

dotancohen wrote: post #66
dgellow wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have we actually forgotten how to land to the moon? That sounds very fishy, I’m pretty skeptical that’s not the case, that was done at a time where we had good records and still have access to them. And it’s close enough to current time that people who worked on it are still alive (not all of course). Coming from musk makes me believe that’s not true, he’s far from a reliable narrator

Many of the manufacturing processes used to make the Apollo spacecraft were not followed in the production floor - and nobody wrote those changes down. That's one well-known example of Apollo-era knowledge lost, there are a few others if you seriously care to DDG them.

Can you see how far

"some Apollo program last-minute production-floor manufacturing changes were not written down"

is from

"humans lost fundamental technology needed to land on the moon"?

Re: Notes from tired Egyptian whose job is explaining that humans built the pyramids

#93

Post by enaaem »

FLHerne wrote: post #45
jrmg wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern construction firms would have no problem^ planning and building you a pyramid if you were willing to pay for it. ^ well, maybe some problems like any project, but they would overcome them.

Sure, but no-one on Earth today is willing to pay for a pyramid - or anything like it - even with the convenience of modern construction. I have a similar feeling looking at the great cathedrals. These structures took up a huge proportion of the community's money, labour and talent, for decades on end. They're orders of magnitude bigger than any 'normal' building of the time or for centuries later. All with no prospe…

I found out that classical building with ornaments aren't that more expensive than modern glass boxes. The Berlin Baroque palace costed 680 Million euros which isn't atypical for buildings that size, and it includes carved stone ornamentation [1]. Modern CNC robots have made stone carving much more efficient.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HC1lLC7zY4&t=537s

Re: Notes from tired Egyptian whose job is explaining that humans built the pyramids

#94

Post by kulahan »

bji9jhff wrote: post #92

I think the more likely explanation is racism. If the pyramids were in Europe, nobody would challenge their human origin but pyramids are in Africa Surely aliens are involved.

This is such a weirdly misanthropic view of humanity. Why are people so desperate to find evil in this world when ignorance is not only nicer to believe, it’s insanely more accurate?

Like I get it, you’re depressed, but this doesn’t automatically make everyone everywhere that doesn’t believe some random facts “racist”.

Re: Notes from tired Egyptian whose job is explaining that humans built the pyramids

#96

Post by marshray »

card_zero wrote: post #59
FLHerne wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but no-one on Earth today is willing to pay for a pyramid - or anything like it - even with the convenience of modern construction. I have a similar feeling looking at the great cathedrals. These structures took up a huge proportion of the community's money, labour and talent, for decades on end. They're orders of magnitude bigger than any 'normal' building of the time or for centuries later. All with no prospe…

Eiffel tower: 10,000 tons Great pyramid: 5 or 6 million tons So only around 500 times as much moving material around, feasible I guess. You might need a dedicated rail line built direct to the quarry. Funny to mention cathedrals considering that they finished one in Spain just recently. There's also Guédelon Castle in France, still being slowly built.

For anyone interested in modern humans' ability to move material around when it is economically advantageous to do so, try a web image search for "largest open pit mines".

Re: Notes from tired Egyptian whose job is explaining that humans built the pyramids

#97

Post by kulahan »

xdennis wrote: post #85

> This feels deeply insulting considering humans also created taxation, organized warfare, and raisins. Offtopic, but why do people hate raisins so much? No other dried fruit gets so much hate. I would imagine it's something genetic like the reason why some people dislike coriander (which has been shown to be related to genetic sensitivity to aldehydes).

The only other dried fruit I see people eat regularly is cranberries, and those really can’t be eaten fresh. I think it’s just that most people don’t like dried fruit and this is their only exposure. It’s definitely one of the most sickeningly sweet natural things you can eat that isn’t a sweetener in and of itself.

Re: Notes from tired Egyptian whose job is explaining that humans built the pyramids

#98

Post by throw2ih020 »

marshray wrote: post #91
dotancohen wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the manufacturing processes used to make the Apollo spacecraft were not followed in the production floor - and nobody wrote those changes down. That's one well-known example of Apollo-era knowledge lost, there are a few others if you seriously care to DDG them.

Can you see how far "some Apollo program last-minute production-floor manufacturing changes were not written down" is from "humans lost fundamental technology needed to land on the moon"?

In aerospace, those are the same statements. Those production floor changes are often the difference between a payload working or failing.

Re: Notes from tired Egyptian whose job is explaining that humans built the pyramids

#99

Post by marshray »

boringg wrote: post #12
sscaryterry wrote: post #6

I can sympathise and understand why people don't believe this is within human capabilities. Look at how fractured the government and political systems of the west have become. Humans forget. We've forgotten how to build pyramids, we've forgotten the second world war and the lessons learned.

Are you for real?

These are common false narratives pushed by "documentaries" on Netflix and cable television in the US.
Post reply on HN