TIL: Today I Learned

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TIL that Australian aboriginal myths are believed, in some cases, to accurately describe the geology and ecology of Australia from 10,000 or more years ago.
There are certainly some echoes of past ecology and geology.
However it is incredibly difficult to separate out what actually is true, what is only wishful thinking, and if you ignore the many "hints" that are wrong or incomprehensible to modern day Aboriginals and the colonisers of the last 200 years.
Climate change and the level and extent of sea levels means that many groups of Aboriginals were pushed out of areas they inhabited for millenia, then possibly returned centuries later when the region was completely different in many aspects. Or those groups amalgamated with other groups with quite different languages and customs which means that the "hints" might be impossible to decipher now, just as it is incredibly difficult to actually know from Ancient written texts whether what was written was ironic, serious or comic. :)
 
TIL that Australian aboriginal myths are believed, in some cases, to accurately describe the geology and ecology of Australia from 10,000 or more years ago.
You can add that Sumerian myths about humans being slaves to aliens are believed to be true as are Christian myths about a great flood and 7 day world creation.
 
Lmao what's with the sudden backlash to aboriginals maybe possibly being right before the Europeans about something?
 
You can add that Sumerian myths about humans being slaves to aliens are believed to be true as are Christian myths about a great flood and 7 day world creation.

Well, I'm actually talking about fairly mundane stuff like the outback being wet and full of lakes, or the shoreline being near the present-day location of the Great Barrier reef.

I actually had a whole book (Legends of the Earth: Their Geologic Origins, by Dorothy Vitaliano) about geology as expressed in myths; one unambiguous example is the myths of the Klamath people in present-day Oregon which very clearly describe the collapse of ancient Mt. Mazama into the present-day Crater Lake.

Some sources for Australian stuff:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-sea-rise-tale-told-accurately-for-10-000-years/
Ancient Sea Rise Tale Told Accurately for 10,000 Years
Aboriginal stories of lost islands match up with underwater finds in Australia

https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/australia/7000-year-old-indigenous-story-proved-true.aspx
7,000 YEAR OLD INDIGENOUS STORY PROVED TRUE
The story has been passed down for 230 generations
 
Lmao what's with the sudden backlash to aboriginals maybe possibly being right before the Europeans about something?
It is all about the "sacred wisdom" of primitive peoples who were wiser and smarter than us, but not smart enough to stop the ongoing progress of humankind.
 
Well, I'm actually talking about fairly mundane stuff like the outback being wet and full of lakes, or the shoreline being near the present-day location of the Great Barrier reef.

I actually had a whole book (Legends of the Earth: Their Geologic Origins, by Dorothy Vitaliano) about geology as expressed in myths; one unambiguous example is the myths of the Klamath people in present-day Oregon which very clearly describe the collapse of ancient Mt. Mazama into the present-day Crater Lake.

Some sources for Australian stuff:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-sea-rise-tale-told-accurately-for-10-000-years/
Ancient Sea Rise Tale Told Accurately for 10,000 Years
Aboriginal stories of lost islands match up with underwater finds in Australia

https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/australia/7000-year-old-indigenous-story-proved-true.aspx
7,000 YEAR OLD INDIGENOUS STORY PROVED TRUE
The story has been passed down for 230 generations
So you are talking about the accuracy of oral tradition. OK. That is not the same as believing myths.
 
It is all about the "sacred wisdom" of primitive peoples who were wiser and smarter than us, but not smart enough to stop the ongoing progress of humankind.

Projection worthy of a Republican.

So you are talking about the accuracy of oral tradition. OK. That is not the same as believing myths.

The only one who ever said anything about believing myths is you. I said that Australian myths accurately describe some of the geology and ecology of prehistoric Australia, and you assumed that I meant the myths are literally true.
 

This article may make things clearer:
Before it was anything else, progress was a doctrine of supremacy—a fresh new faith for a rising era of unchallenged European dominance, a way of celebrating European hegemony by anchoring it in time, and rendering Europe, and specifically Bourbon France, the very apotheosis of human achievement.
 
TIL that Australian aboriginal myths are believed, in some cases, to accurately describe the geology and ecology of Australia from 10,000 or more years ago.

The only one who ever said anything about believing myths is you. I said that Australian myths accurately describe some of the geology and ecology of prehistoric Australia, and you assumed that I meant the myths are literally true.
Words are like slippery pigs; their meaning can be hard to catch. :p
 
If superior primitive wisdom were a real thing, I figure those wise elders would have foreseen that tech development was evil and would supplant them. :)

Is this an admission you didn't read past the phrase "are believed"? ;)
Not at all. It is an admission that clarity of language is important to good communication. :)
 
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If superior primitive wisdom were a real thing, I figure those wise elders would have foreseen that tech development was evil and would supplant them. :)

BJ, you're normally clear on what you're saying but I genuinely have no clue where this stuff is coming from. Evil technology? Stopping progress? Disparagement of oral tradition?

I mean, I dislike myths, and oral tradition, and generally don't adhere to the philosophy that the past was better. I like the western lifestyle, for the most part. But the vehement resistance to aboriginals being right about something is... strange. And really sudden. Can't it just be cool that some truth is found in an orally passed down myth? What's with the "superior primitive wisdom?"
 
I gotta go out, bbl to answer these fine posts. :)
 
If superior primitive wisdom were a real thing, I figure those wise elders would have foreseen that tech development was evil and would supplant them. :)

Obviously they weren't going for a Space Race victory.
 
Obviously they weren't going for a Space Race victory.

LOL, reminds me of the first time I ever played Civ 3, I didn't know how to use the building menu so I just built warriors until AI civs started settling my island with medieval units
 
LOL, reminds me of the first time I ever played Civ 3, I didn't know how to use the building menu so I just built warriors until AI civs started settling my island with medieval units

In Civ 2, I used to never fortify units in my cities and then wonder why they got overrun so quickly.
 
LOL, reminds me of the first time I ever played Civ 3, I didn't know how to use the building menu so I just built warriors until AI civs started settling my island with medieval units

In Civ 2, I used to never fortify units in my cities and then wonder why they got overrun so quickly.

In the first Civilization, when I first played I didn't know how to found cities.
 
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