Posts from Siverfale vs Kitty

I have a question: how flexible is the concept of the word "ancient"? Approximate timeframes.

Let's start with the fact that people have already established more or less peaceful relations with each other, wars are no longer breaking out, and countries are helping each other. Although things are not perfect here yet, it is still better than in the past.

Secondly, humanity has acquired one of the most important things in the world – knowledge. We have become more careful about nature, healing the wounds we have inflicted on it.

Thirdly, we have more comfortable living conditions, there are all sorts of vacuum cleaners and refrigerators, and it has become easier for people to communicate – through e-mail and ICQ or even phones.

What has this civilization given to humanity? You know, Kitty, here are some statistics for the last 150 years:
The speed of transport has increased more than a thousandfold.
The energy capacity of a person has increased at least a thousandfold.
The number of weapons has increased millions of times...
Do you feel the trend?

Now let's remember the past, when men spent years trying to get a simple kiss from a girl (and now let's go outside and ask any 18-year-old girl how many she has SIMPLY kissed... Most of them won't even be able to remember), that was truly an era of romance (at least after the 15th century).

Let's remember the good old 17th century, when anyone who was dissatisfied with the old ways, anyone who wanted to change their life, went west, on a long voyage, where they hoped to build a new world, without the flaws of the old one. To America (this is already the 18th century, but I will take it only as a successful example), the smartest and most desperate people went - and they built a completely new society, they managed to create democracy, and not bow down to the king as before. The rest had the same chances, but excessive exploitation of the local population destroyed them in the most naive way imaginable. But we are talking about the fact that they COULD build a new life. Now it is impossible to do that. Hence the dissatisfaction. Hence the psychoses, suicides, schizophrenia....

Sorry if I'm too assertive in expressing my point of view, I just can't do it any other way.

Secondly, humanity has acquired one of the most important things in the world – knowledge. We have become more careful about nature, healing the wounds we have inflicted upon it.

You can feel it. People invented and improved everything before us, and we, as egoists, are now taking advantage of it. Back then, when these weapons, vehicles, and household appliances were invented and upgraded, people used imperfect and even dangerous equipment (take, for example, the history of matches). Now, all these things are much more convenient, although their evolution will probably continue, and only a couple of centuries separate us from vacuum-cleaning refrigerators with a built-in organizer and an MP3 player.

For some, even this is romantic... It's a relative concept. Maybe, in a hundred years, we will consider something romantic that is not romantic now.

Why can't it be done? We get into a spaceship and look for a new planet.

Okay, okay. I give up. The arguments are over. Stop pressuring me.

Back then, there were no such wounds. I mean, NONE. Now, even in the most remote villages, you can smell gasoline...

Well, for now, it's science fiction; conquering the New World is something else entirely.

But that's unlikely because below that is only the "General" project, and even that is relative, so it's unlikely to be considered romantic – the concept of this word has remained largely the same over the past 800 years.

Regarding assertiveness, in the previous argument, you said:

Okay, okay. I give up. I'm out of arguments. Stop pressuring me.

They did, they did. Perhaps not as significant, but they still existed. For example, farmers in Australia long ago exterminated Tasmanian wolves because they thought they were destroying livestock. Although, in principle, I agree with you.

Back then, it was also considered science fiction. Isn't it scary to sail across the ocean when a storm could happen at any moment? And what if there is no continent there at all?

Have you seen any romance among Neanderthals? At least now we don't eat our own kind for breakfast if there's nothing else (although, again, who knows). Besides, women are no longer considered unworthy, and men are no longer elevated to the level of gods.

In those glorious times, one could exterminate entire hordes of animals (not to mention that they could probably exterminate just as many people) without fear of the species becoming extinct.

What about our civilization's focus on military matters? I think almost everyone knows that the weapons currently on Earth are enough to destroy all life (or at least irreparably destroy biological chains, ecosystems, and other "minor" things").

Back then, it was already well known that there was land (Columbus discovered America before the 18th century) where one could live and grow plants. Now, we don't even have special domes or underground complexes for living on the moon, let alone other planets.

The definition of genocide according to the UN Convention:

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

- killing members of the group;
- causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I just wanted to say that this term does not apply to animals. I was just being sarcastic.

Yeah... The thing is, by the time the British arrived on the mainland, there was practically nothing (or rather, no one) left of the marsupial wolves.
Regarding animals that are man-eaters: here's another point in favor of our time: now animals are afraid of humans and don't attack us. Only in self-defense, and even then, they usually run away.

Just try to handle it carefully, and that's it. But in ancient times, half of the materials went into all sorts of weapons.

Just wait a little longer, and there will be... But for now, you can hide deep in the jungle, settle in the Sahara, or live in Antarctica. There are still unexplored corners of the Earth.