Liberals like Paul Seely and Peter Enns think ancient Near Easterners were too oblivious to notice how the observable world worked. Here's an interesting story about how scientists had to rely on the low-tech expertise of local fishermen:
Here's another story about how the younger generation often lacks basic mechanical aptitude, compared to the older generation:
Permit me to share a personal anecdote. I often walk around the football field of my old junior high. There's a nature trail behind the field. There's a chain-link fence between the field and the trail. And there's a pedestrian opening in the fence. The opening has a row of two concrete bollards. I assume they were put there to obstruct dirt motorbikes from using the trail. However, kids who bicycle around the neighbor also use the trail as a shortcut. But the pedals are too wide for the space.
It's amusing to watch kids try to finesse the obstruction. A few of the kids take it in stride. They have one of two techniques. Some of them simply lift the bike right over the bollards. Other kids raise the bike on the back wheel, and scoot it through. Upended, the pedals are above the height of the bollards, so the rest of the bike slips right through.
However, most of the kids I observe are dumbfounded by the challenge. They'll spend like 5 minutes staring at opening and trying different ways to angle their level bike through the bollards.
What's worse is that I'm sure for most of these kids, it's something they do at least once a day, if not several times a day, as they bike around the neighborhood in the summer sunshine, with all that free time on their hands. Yet they act as if each time is the first time they ever had to figure it out.
Now, I'm sure the same kids are super savvy when it comes to hitch gizmos and gadgets of every conceivable description, but they're baffled when it comes to this kind of simple, physical, visual problem-solving. Problems our ancestors could easily eyeball and solve in a flash.
Keep that in mind when you read people like Seely and Enns assure us that our ancestors were clueless about the observable world they lived in.
Underestimating our ancestors is one of the major reasons why some people are willing to believe in the "ancient aliens theory." Modern people can't imagine how ancient "primitive" peoples were able to do things like build the pyramids and other structures. But there are ways to explain how they were able to accomplish such astounding feats.
ReplyDeleteFor example, here's a 15 min. video on how the Egyptians were most likely able to build the pyramids.
http://ancientaliensdebunked.com/references-and-transcripts/the-pyramids/
Here's a link to the entire Ancient Aliens Debunked video:
http://youtu.be/j9w-i5oZqaQ
These videos show the amazing ingenuity of our ancestors.