Did fantastical beasts like the unicorn and phoenix use to exist?

[Nick Carpathia]

Wait, is the OP serious? I thought he was having a lark.
No, there's no reason to believe in these fantastical animals.

This is the same forum that contains Classical Hero and Dommy and Timtofly.

I think this is something truly unique. Most other videogame forums are virulently atheist (of the fedora variety), but Civ has enough cross-demographic appeal and enough edutainment-style authenticity (with bloodless combat and a YEC-appealing 2000BC starting date of civilization), that it attracts the homeschooled demographic.

 

[Kyriakos]

Suppose there was an ancient Greek tale involving unicorns potentially involving some unicorn ball sucking (sorry but I just watched a Colbert clip on youtube comments involving horse ball sucking). Would this change this sentiment of yours?

Colbert

Well, you could use Romans, donkeys and balls, and try Apuleius.
He was a Berber but wrote in latin.

 

[peter grimes]

Yes. Taken with an extremely sensitive CCD camera, so you could say they are real photos. The light is monochromatic, though, so no pictures with real colors.

For example, take a look at the insets of figures 2 and 3 of this paper, where you can see how we can count individual rubidium atoms:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1004.2442

And those stay for about a minute, so you can sort of watch them in real time.

/thread. Fantastical beast found

 

[Borachio]

Human beings in a young age tend to want to believe the world is based on actual principles which are certain, which is obviously a need they have since no child could really function in any decent level if he would guess how our world is.
And it is quite sad. Reveals the potential for a vastly better world. And also highlights the chasm between that and what we now have.

I agree. I think we all crave certainty. Living with uncertainty is a very difficult thing to do. For example, people who are waiting for a diagnosis are much happier once they have one, even if it's a life-ending disease.

It's much easier to say "This is the way it is", even if it's untrue, than "Who knows which way it is?"

 

[Antilogic]

This is the same forum that contains Classical Hero and Dommy and Timtofly.

I think this is something truly unique. Most other videogame forums are virulently atheist (of the fedora variety), but Civ has enough cross-demographic appeal and enough edutainment-style authenticity (with bloodless combat and a YEC-appealing 2000BC starting date of civilization), that it attracts the homeschooled demographic.

Hey, that's 4,000 BC!

 

[AdamCrock]

I don't think mythical beasts like unicorns, minothaurs , etc. existed. Maybe the descriptions were mixed up like very ancient people mistook mammoth for something else or there are errors in the storries told by the campfire - from generation to generation they might have been altered like the rumors flying around our neighborhood for example -

oh btw. I believe starting date of civ more like 10000 BC - there's no way they could have build the pyramids faster than that ! ... or maybe the pyramids have been found, not builded ?

 

[timtofly]

This is the same forum that contains Classical Hero and Dommy and Timtofly.

I think this is something truly unique. Most other videogame forums are virulently atheist (of the fedora variety), but Civ has enough cross-demographic appeal and enough edutainment-style authenticity (with bloodless combat and a YEC-appealing 2000BC starting date of civilization), that it attracts the homeschooled demographic.

I was drawn in a few months before Civ5 appeared, and it was fun to "guess" what all the teasers and new aspects of the latest entry entailed. Posting there broke the ice, and all the free time to kill at work did not help either. I drifted down to the Civ2 area occasionally, but when that got too blasé, OT was my only outlet. That and the ability to expand my horizons.

 

[bhsup]

The only thing worse than an avenging narwhal is a LAND avenging narwhal! Some may say they don't exist, but the same thing was said about the land shark....

 

[Antilogic]

Whales and sharks don't exist, they are just lies invented by the librul media-science complex to brainwash little kids into feeling bad about polluting the ocean. Seriously, big animals like that? All lies.

 

[timtofly]

It was the dolphins though that did it in.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Let's just say that a man who still manages to find likelihood in such mythical creatures has a quality which has something to envy. I miss the wonders children's eyes could see.

Especially if lost grip on reality were selective! One could be happy, even elated, almost regardless of life situation.

Sadly, the only convincing existence of phoenix and TEH UN1CR0Ns is as constructs in books, animations, and special effects. Then again, we have equal evidence for them as we have for other non-observed things that millions and millions of people firmly believe to exist and/or influence, so why not?

I would take a unicorn over a phoenix though. Less manly, perhaps, but getting roasted alive (and then being...less alive) is not something I'm in a rush to experience.

 

[Kyriakos]

It is not always a loss of a grip on reality, or a lack of such a formation (in the case of children). Maybe it is even more common that children force themselves to conform to what they think reality is, and that tends to be a miserable idea of it if one goes by the prevalent emotions in puberty.