From: Wade T.Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Date: Sat 23 Nov 2002 - 01:44:42 GMT
On Friday, November 22, 2002, at 06:14 , Grant wrote:
> One of the religious memes we always have to cope with is the idea that
> people were smarter in the old days.
Interesting. I've always, from the skeptical perspective, noticed that
most people assume we were dumber back in the old days, otherwise, why
bother to invent a tale of aliens helping to construct the pyramids?
Fables like that are legion, especially among the so-called 'spiritual'
or 'metaphysical' newage (rhymes with sewage) hobbyists.
> The older an idea is, the more it reflects the TRUTH.
What skeptics see working, as in the ridiculous claims that ancient
chinese medicine 'works', is a form of 'if it's old, it's good', but,
that is more working from the pretense that people 'back then' were more
'in touch' with 'nature' or their 'inner selves', which could, I
suppose, be comparable to 'smarter', but, when you try to make the
'aliens built the pyramids' do the required tango with 'acupuncture must
work, it's 3000 years old', they don't hear the music together, do they?
- Wade
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