Monday, January 3, 2022

Cursed be the Romans


I believe it was Carl Sagan who in his famous TV series "Cosmos" opined that "if the Ionians had been victorious, we would be on our way to the stars". And Richard Carrier believes that if the Roman Empire hadn´t collapsed (and/or hadn´t turned Christian), we would have been 1,000 years more advanced, scientifically and technologically...

OK, let me guess.

The Western Idea of Progress is a...religion?

If the Romans had a scientific revolution around the year 600, their industrial revolution would presumably had started around 800. Around 1100, the Roman World Empire would have destroyed the climate by burning too much fossil fuel. Around 1400, all relevant natural resources would have been depleted. And in the year 2022, we (all 1 million of us, world-wide) would have lived in fucking Stone Age fox holes, cursing the evil Romans. And worshipped a pagan nun named Gretis Tunbergis who according to legend tried to warn the Roman emperor Donaldus Trumpius about albedo effects and shit.

And how do we know this? Well, because that´s exactly what happened after our scientific and industrial revolutions...

The claim that 500 extra years or so would make a difference is simply bullshit. 

But sure, keep worshipping the secular gods of fusion, cold fusion, starships going through wormholes, AI, metaverses, flying cars, or whatever.

 

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