patrick.net

leoj707 says

Yeah, with wormwood at least I thought that at hallucinogenic dosage levels you were just as likely to kill yourself.

True. I do know that wormwood is traditionally believed to be a way of ridding yourself of parasites, hence the name.

Some village wise woman dosing people with copious amounts of wormwood is possible.

But you're right, googling I see the range of dosage between getting the fireworks and killing yourself seems to be very narrow.

leoj707 says

thunderlips11 says

Not to mention Ergot in rye breads.

Ergot? Or was it actually witches...

http://www.damninteresting.com/bad-rye-and-the-salem-witches/

Great article, thanks Leo.

It mentions another religion-inducing substance, Kykeon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kykeon

Antikythera mechanism and the pyramids. Beat that.

Bap33 says

Antikythera mechanism

Awesome.

Cloud says

and over here we have Copernicus, Kepler, Bacon, Galilei, Descarte, Pascal, Newton, Boyle, Fraraday, Mendel...and on and on.

That is an immensely stupid argument. Have you actually considered what their views would likely be if they had been born in this day and age?

Bigsby, please see my last post, and recall the time frame of such creations, and then argue why today's minds are better than the minds that knew/realized/expressed/investigated a spiritual world as well as a physical world. Please.

This is ridiculous. What kind of society do you think they were born and raised in? What kind of knowledge of the world did they have? They may have been great men of their time, but their knowledge of the sciences was a tiny fraction of what we know now. Why not do a quick Google of the beliefs held by scientists nowadays? Do you not see the point? You can't turn round and say 'well all these scientists in the past believed in God.' Well pretty much everyone believed in God then and if they didn't they very much kept it to themselves for some very obvious reasons.

thunderlips11 says

Bap33 says

Antikythera mechanism

Awesome.

Homo Economicus. A Legendary Creature, like Bigfoot, claimed to exist by Pseudoscientists.

Yeah, pretty cool. I think it is up there with the Baghdad Battery.

Cloud says

Oh I get the giants of science were stupid about God back then.

Today scientific knowledge as far surpassed what they knew back then. That does not make them stupid.

The fact is though that the god(s) of the gaps has shrunk considerable sense their time(s), and as a result a large majority of their contemporaries do not believe in god(s). So, it stands to reason that if they were born today most of them would not believe in god(s).

Bigsby says

Well pretty much everyone believed in God then and if they didn't they very much kept it to themselves for some very obvious reasons.

Ha ha, yes consequences were much more severe for an admitted non-christian then than today.

Bap33 says

Bigsby, please see my last post, and recall the time frame of such creations, and then argue why today's minds are better than the minds that knew/realized/expressed/investigated a spiritual world as well as a physical world. Please.

?

You do realize that it is because of the investigations into the spiritual and physical world by the great minds of yesteryear that the great minds of today don't bother to investigate the spiritual world today.

Investigations into the physical world have yielded fruits that we all enjoy/dread today. However, spiritual investigations have not yielded anything really.

If you were running an R&D department for the last 10,000 years where would you put your research effort in?

Bigsby says

This is ridiculous. What kind of society do you think they were born and raised in? What kind of knowledge of the world did they have? They may have been great men of their time, but their knowledge of the sciences was a tiny fraction of what we know now. Why not do a quick Google of the beliefs held by scientists nowadays? Do you not see the point? You can't turn round and say 'well all these scientists in the past believed in God.' Well pretty much everyone believed in God then and if they didn't they very much kept it to themselves for some very obvious reasons.

ummmm . no. You see my friend, the things I mentioned were not picked by accident. Most ancient stone work can not be duplicated nor explained by modern science. If you feel Egyptians carved the huge stones with copper tools, and placed the stones using vine ropes and slave labor, then you and I disagree. If you feel the study of the stars in a lifetime (about 50 years back then, but lets get crazy and call it 75) was enough to be able to plot and predict the Earth's position in the solar system, lunar and solar eclipses, and astroligical procession, then you and I disagree. I believe that info was wrote down and passed along with just as much detail as the Noah Flood story or the Adam story. ..... why would the same people be so correct about the details of their physical world, and yet be so incorrect about the details of their spiritual world? Ever hear of Enoch?

@leo,
that is a good point, given what we know today. But, I do not think we have a 10K historical reference in play today ... I put our reference at about 3K years of current human development. It seems like something really big and bad took place pre-3K to about 12K ago. Man was as we see him now, but the mind, the universe, the planet, and the spiritual world were different back then, some how. Maybe when Atlantis exploded it set us back a few K in development? Or, when the Tower of Bable was destroyed it was a set back?? Not sure.

Bap33 says

If you feel Egyptians carved the huge stones with copper tools, and placed the stones using vine ropes and slave labor, then you and I disagree.

They used a proto-concrete quicklime, and all most of the stones were local. We've already found ramps and docks for moving more distant stone, and the evidence for the existence of massive ramps to move the stone up the pyramid face.

No "unknown metals from the planet Zoltan" have been uncovered near the Pyramids.

They had more than 50 years. Egyptians had writing, and could have been tracking the stars for hundreds of years.

Bap33 says

I put our reference at about 3K years of current human development.

Fair enough, 3k years is probably a better knowledge advancement point.

Bap33 says

Maybe when Atlantis exploded it set us back a few K in development? Or, when the Tower of Bable was destroyed it was a set back?? Not sure.

While we may *ahem* disagree on some "historical" and geological events, I do think that the progress of knowledge has not been a smooth curve. There have been ups/downs, lost knowledge, re-inventing the wheel, etc.

leoj707 says

thunderlips11 says

Bap33 says

Antikythera mechanism

Awesome.

Homo Economicus. A Legendary Creature, like Bigfoot, claimed to exist by Pseudoscientists.

Yeah, pretty cool. I think it is up there with the Baghdad Battery.

OK, not as ancient but certainly an "out of its time" invention.

Charles Babbage's computer built in the early 1800s is a great example of how a huge scientific leap can happen then fade away only to be picked up 100s of years later.

dude .... lol ... the great pyramid covers 14 friggin acres and is sitting dead flat and aims perfectly NSEW at the corners (the sides bow inward).

It had no friggin door, had no treasure, no body, vents that stopped short of the exit, and a use that remains unknown.

The huge granite slabs in the Kings Chamber are not friggin local, they are way far away and too big. Granite cant be beat on with copper to be made flat or shaped.

We have found ramps? Really? (link please) I wonder where did the dirt go to, or come from.

I don't claim to know what's up with the huge stone work of ancient man, but I do think Egytian muslamists are fibbing about the pyramids.

Bap33 says

We have found ramps? Really? (link please) I wonder where did the dirt go to, or come from.

Number of people and time to build pyramid:

But the process of building pyramids, while complicated, was not as colossal an undertaking as many of us believe, Redford says. Estimates suggest that between 20,000 and 30,000 laborers were needed to build the Great Pyramid at Giza in less than 23 years. By comparison, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris took almost 200 years to complete.

According to Redford, pharaohs traditionally began building their pyramids as soon as they took the throne. The pharaoh would first establish a committee composed of an overseer of construction, a chief engineer and an architect. The pyramids were usually placed on the western side of the Nile because the pharaoh's soul was meant to join with the sun disc during its descent before continuing with the sun in its eternal round. Added Redford, the two deciding factors when choosing a building site were its orientation to the western horizon where the sun set and the proximity to Memphis, the central city of ancient Egypt.

Bap33 says

The huge granite slabs in the Kings Chamber are not friggin local, they are way far away and too big. Granite cant be beat on with copper to be made flat or shaped.

Dolerite.

According to Redford, ancient Egyptian quarrying methods -- the processes for cutting and removing stone -- are still being studied. Scholars have found evidence that copper chisels were using for quarrying sandstone and limestone, for example, but harder stones such as granite and diorite would have required stronger materials, said Redford. Dolerite, a hard, black igneous rock, was used in the quarries of Aswan to remove granite.

During excavation, massive dolerite "pounders" were used to pulverize the stone around the edge of the granite block that needed to be extracted. According to Redford, 60 to 70 men would pound out the stone. At the bottom, they rammed wooden pegs into slots they had cut, and filled the slots with water. The pegs would expand, splitting the stone, and the block was then slid down onto a waiting boat.

Ramps and Slipways used to move stone quarried elsewhere; you can pull multi-ton stones with rope:

Teams of oxen or manpower were used to drag the stones on a prepared slipway that was lubricated with oil. Said Redford, a scene from a 19th century B.C. tomb in Middle Egypt depicts "an alabaster statue 20 feet high pulled by 173 men on four ropes with a man lubricating the slipway as the pulling went on."

Once the stones were at the construction site, ramps were built to get them into place on the pyramid, said Redford. These ramps were made of mud brick and coated with chips of plaster to harden the surface. "If they consistently raised the ramp course by course as the teams dragged their blocks up, they could have gotten them into place fairly easily," he noted. At least one such ramp still exists, he said.

When answering to skepticism about how such heavy stones could have been moved without machinery, Redford says, "I usually show the skeptic a picture of 20 of my workers at an archaeological dig site pulling up a two-and-a-half ton granite block." He added, "I know it's possible because I was on the ropes too."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328104302.htm

Alternative Ramp theory (Pyramid built from inside out):

The little thermometer/compass clipped to my bag read 111 degrees as I began climbing the Great Pyramid in search of evidence for how it was built. We know it was the tomb of the pharaoh Khufu and that Hemienu, Khufu's brother, directed its construction some 4,500 years ago. But how the massive limestone blocks were raised has been debated since at least the fifth century B.C., when local priests told the Greek historian Herodotus that cranes were used.

All of the current theories--a long, straight ramp, a ramp that corkscrewed around the outside of the pyramid, or cranelike shadoufs (used in Egypt until recently for irrigating fields)--have serious flaws. In the May/June 2007 issue of ARCHAEOLOGY, architect Jean-Pierre Houdin and I presented a radical new theory: that blocks of stone were raised to the very top of the pyramid on an internal ramp.

We gave what we felt was strong evidence for the theory, which explains a French team's microgravemetric survey in the 1980s that recorded variations in the density of the pyramid. Although the researchers didn't recognize its importance, an image from the survey may show a ramp still open inside the pyramid, running parallel to the outer face of the structure and turning 90 degrees at the corners, corkscrewing up to the top. In the article, we suggested other nondestructive methods of surveying, including infrared and sonar that could yield conclusive proof of an internal ramp. We remain hopeful that we will receive permission to conduct such a survey.

http://www.archaeology.org/0907/etc/khufu_pyramid.html

Interesting that after many centuries passed since the Pyramids were built, the Egyptians remembered cranes being used, but didn't mention aliens or Jedi-like Psi Energy being used to lift the stones. There is also evidence of ramps and carvings showing knowledge of building with those techniques via bas reliefs, but no illustrations of UFOs and no tame, trained Giant Bigfoots hauling or teleporting stone.

Furthermore, the idea kicks Occam's Razor out the front door. I imagine that an interstellar civilization capable of FTL travel between stars would be capable of navigating without having to build a massive landmark to use for dead reckoning:

"Yeah, Zdffaspfffth! We can navigate precisely between Qualuude IV and Sol III 73 Light Years away with our Uranium-Plutonium Warp Drive, but GPS, radio beacons, basic flight instrumentation and mapping, etc. we never invented. So we got the intelligent apes to build us a ridiculously large limestone Pyramid we can navigate by. And other ape tribes to draw lines in the sand in the shape of birds."

Cloud says

I'll stick with the Giants of Science who were beleivers. You folks can toil.

Yeah, that explains why when religion the dominant force, ~400-1400, except for chainmail, ox collar yokes, and windmills, not much else happened. Certainly not on the scale of what happened during and after the Enlightenment, when superstition was put in it's place.

Redford is full of crap.

Watch the whole show when you have time, but for now here's just a little bit: http://www.youtube.com/embed/pOjhcfIIIjw&feature=relmfu

All that video proved is that THAT guy (who is not Redford) is full of crap. Did you even watch that?

That said, my favorite part of that is where he says "It's simple mathematics" and then, a mere minute later, manages to divide 2 minutes by 4 and get 2 seconds.

Bap, god came to me in a dream last night. She told me that I need to set you straight - you're just too gullible! She's worried that you'll believe anything you hear that affirms your world view and that one day this will lead you, as it has so many other religious people, to do something truly evil. Please be careful with what you believe.

Bap33 says

ummmm . no. You see my friend, the things I mentioned were not picked by accident. Most ancient stone work can not be duplicated nor explained by modern science. If you feel Egyptians carved the huge stones with copper tools, and placed the stones using vine ropes and slave labor, then you and I disagree. If you feel the study of the stars in a lifetime (about 50 years back then, but lets get crazy and call it 75) was enough to be able to plot and predict the Earth's position in the solar system, lunar and solar eclipses, and astroligical procession, then you and I disagree. I believe that info was wrote down and passed along with just as much detail as the Noah Flood story or the Adam story. ..... why would the same people be so correct about the details of their physical world, and yet be so incorrect about the details of their spiritual world? Ever hear of Enoch?

Are you high? What on earth has that got to do with my post? Not to mention that what you wrote is complete nonsense. Being capable of piling large stones on top of each other doesn't suddenly give you great insight into the spiritual world, or are you saying that you are a follower of the polytheistic beliefs of ancient Egypt?

Bap33 says

dude .... lol ... the great pyramid covers 14 friggin acres and is sitting dead flat and aims perfectly NSEW at the corners (the sides bow inward).

It had no friggin door, had no treasure, no body, vents that stopped short of the exit, and a use that remains unknown.

The huge granite slabs in the Kings Chamber are not friggin local, they are way far away and too big. Granite cant be beat on with copper to be made flat or shaped.

We have found ramps? Really? (link please) I wonder where did the dirt go to, or come from.

I don't claim to know what's up with the huge stone work of ancient man, but I do think Egytian muslamists are fibbing about the pyramids.

Fibbing in what way? And what's so strange about there being no body and no treasure? There's a bloody great sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid. I was inside there nearly 25 years ago. There's sweet FA of interest inside and it stinks of piss, but so what, it's still a very impressive structure. There is no secret to the pyramids. They were an advanced culture for their time, had enormous wealth, and plenty of skilled labour to toil away on constructions that they had a great deal of experience building, both successfully and unsuccessfully. That area is littered with pyramids. There's just nothing extraordinary about them.

Cloud says

Those are just a few scientists. THE GREAT ONES.

I haven't even touched upon statesmen, philosophers, great composers, great writers etc.

Guess these guys were all closet atheists too.

Because you know all great men are atheist. They all showed up that day in Washington (3 people)

Even Einstein (guess he was being threatened too) talk about God and could come to no conclusion.

You are on a wind up, or otherwise you simply don't read other people's posts. They may well have all believed in god or gods. So what? As I already said, pretty much everyone believed in such things then for very obvious reasons, and most scientists don't nowadays. Views and knowledge all change, but you seem to be deliberately ignoring that obvious fact.

Bigsby says

There is no secret to the pyramids

liberal elite much?

Bigsby says

There's just nothing extraordinary about them

you mean, other than the fact that we cant build one as perfect today?

Bigsby says

Being capable of piling large stones on top of each other doesn't suddenly give you great insight

lol .... you should educate yourself on the weights of such stones, and ponder by what means they were elevated and balanced and honed to tight fits ... I mean, you may not realize this, but there are THOUSANDS of big rocks that have been manipulated into place that we have no means, at all, to do right now.

The point is those same minds of that time knew their spirit world just as well as they new their physical world. Your kind MUST reduce the physical abilities to help hide their spiritual abilities.

@Matt,
lol ..... write down the numbers in front of you. Total stones, total years. Now, he said the workers were farmers and that reduced the number of days they worked on these little projects. Even if you do not do that function, and then DOUBLED the years for construction, you have an IMPOSSIBLE time frame. Write them down.

The site had to be made dead flat. The stone had to be cut. The location had to be plotted. If you like the ramp theroy, at this time you would need to find some sand and move it. If you like vine ropes, you would need to start building them. If you like the idea of crews of slaves or volunteers - any amount you wish - male and/or female - then you must feed, water, clothe, shelter, care for these workers and their masters and the design team and the on-site quality control team, and the soldiers that have to protect everything ... this means that the farmers, hunters, cloth makers, water tenders, and home builders/repair teams, engineers, and soldiers had to not help on the project.

Any idea how they did this job without port-a-potys?

Now, use any other source you want, get the number of stones you like, and do the math. Now, add in the chambers, shafts, and their perfect placement. Ya, today's minds are special - sure..... in their lack of humility and lack of spirituality. You are not the center of the universe. Anti-Christian is not the only answer. Progressive liberal atheists are not very accepting of diversity.

Bap33 says

Bigsby says

There is no secret to the pyramids

liberal elite much?

What? You must be another of the nutters on here. How the hell do you manage to link those two together? Give me strength.

And there's nothing perfect about the pyramids. They could obviously be built today - look at the buildings that are constructed nowadays. The pyramids aren't replicated because of the cost and the pointlessness. How the hell do you work out that we can't lift large cut stone blocks into position? It's done all the time just on a smaller scale. Your points are ludicrous. Large buildings nowadays are highly complex compared to the very basic structure of the pyramid - hence the reason why a similar style was used around the world - it's the easiest way to build large, stable structures with limited tools. But I guess you think aliens built them.

And as for "The point is those same minds of that time knew their spirit world just as well as they new their physical world. Your kind MUST reduce the physical abilities to help hide their spiritual abilities," you've just got to laugh. Change your underpants, put your tin foil hat on and read a book, preferably not Chariots of the Gods.

The modern repair to Machu Pichu looks like a 1st grader did touch up work on the Mona Lisa. And these were repairs made by the leading authorities and experts.

I like that Bap and CS are noting respect for our ancient ancestors and really saying nothing more. In other words just pondering the question - how did these ostensibly primative people do these things ?

How different than us were they ? Obviously their individual potential may not have been much lower than ours, even if their accumulated knowledge was far less. Is it really all that radical to think that in some ways they might have been more evolved than us ?

Why would that be surprising, when it's so easy to look everywhere around us and see devolution. It's like the expression - two steps forward and one step back.

If you think about it, it would be the height of arrogance to think that we haven't lost anything compared to those ancient people.

Speaking of ancient Egypt, the Egyption collection at the Met is definitely something to see in NY.

http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections?pg=1&where=Egypt

marcus says

Is it really all that radical to think that in some ways they might have been more evolved than us ?

More evolved? What on earth do you mean by that?

Bigsby says

What on earth do you mean by that?

I meant it loosely speaking. That they may have had some attributes that have been lost. These attributes would not have to be physiological. They could be social or spiritual, or even just some combination of habits that were very ingrained which no longer are.

Such things can become physiological in a way, I would think, over a period of many generations.

Bap, grab a calculator. Use his estimate (accurate, based upon his numbers) of how many stones/minute based upon a full year of work. That's .5 stones a minute (2 minutes per stone). Now re-calculate based upon 3 months of work per year (1/4 of a year). If you have 1/4 of the time, you have to work 4 times as fast to get the same work done. That's 1 stone every 30 seconds - not every 2 seconds, as he says.

And that's all using his assumptions. Yes, because there were some egyptian farmers among the workers, they just dropped all work on the pyramids in the other 9 months out of the year. It's just not possible to have any division of labor! And surely there were no slaves working ... and surely it took exactly 20 years!

Not to disparage the accomplishment - surely it's monumental. I'm just correcting obviously flawed calculations that are based upon assumed numbers.

Why do so many believe it's impossible to replicate their work with even today's technology? Yes, the pyramids are impressive, but if you really think we couldn't do the same - or much greater - you've got your head in the sand. If anyone cared to, we could build pyramids that would make the egyptian pyramids look like piles of stones in the desert. We've gone into space, traveled to the moon, we can FLY around the world in hours.

If the ancient egyptians saw what we can do today - if they saw the marvels of engineering that are modern buildings ... they would be astonished. The only thing that astonishes me about the pyramids is how much work was done for something of so little real benefit. If only they had focused on education and useful infrastructure, they could have flourished as a society on a much grander scale, even if their buildings didn't last as long.

1 stone every day would be impossible .... impossible.

@Bigsby,
The "liberal" tag comes from your "smart people know there is no God", plus your odd view that the only interaction between religion and science on this planet is the Spanish Inquisition. Those things are kinda like Holy Grail for the relgion of liberalism. You may say you are something else, like "progressive" and "independant" ,or even "educated", but I just went with the most likely tag that applies to that smartassed smug egocentric view that you shared. Forgive me if I was wrong.

You are wrong about your opinion of man's building abilities. There are THOUSANDS of stones we can not move or replicate their positioning. THOUSANDS. You will not read nor listen to any information that does not fit the box you have placed history in.

You do realize that science refused to admit that large astorids could even hit earth until this century, right? Refused!! Why? Because it messed up their structured plan of how earth history needs to piece together for them to be right and for the Sumerian texts, and Dead Sea Scrolls to be wrong. So far, the Sumerians are still correct.

@Matt,
the time frame is given by the Eqyptians that want the pyramids to be a tomb built for a particular leader. They would have had to be built during that guys lifetime at the least. I said go ahead and blow it out to 50 years, and work 24 hours around the clock ,,, it is still impossible. Totally not even close.

You folks that do not trust or believe in spiritual things are now in a tuff spot. You have to keep believing that the early humans that figured out farming, schools, medicine, animal husbandry, calendars, writing, math, counting, money, family, tribe, voting, chiefs, forks, knives, tools, fire, textiles ... pretty much everything that was needed for man to survive the ice ages and get us to this point ...... and they built these huges momuments and sky-viewed pictures, and lived life with a focus on the spiritual ... well, they were all wrong and your godless universe where man is all there is, is all there is. I happen to disagree with you and agree with ancient man and the Apache.

@marcus,
I enjoy this subject. I think the ego required to think "now" is somehow more relevant than "then" is one very big ego. That may be how they make themselves believe that man causes global climate changes.(?)

Bigsby says

And what's so strange about there being no body and no treasure? There's a bloody great sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid

1) There was a big assed stone lid covering a box. It was ASSUMED to be a tomb until the lid was removed. A multi-ton lid. And inside was nothing. Not a bone, not a rock, not a clump of hair, no spider, no ant, no writing. Under a closed, multi-ton lid. So, what, EXACTLY, makes this box, sitting in a pyramid that had no entrance and had to be blasted into, a tomb .. and not just a myserious box? The evidence it is a "sarcophagus", and not just a large sealed box inside a large sealed box, has not been made known to me. Please link it for me, thanks.

Bap33 says

1 stone every day would be impossible .... impossible.

Oh? And you know this how? You've tried, with an army of men and generations of practice?

And you KNOW that the pyramids were built for a specific ruler - and there were never cases where a ruler died and his/her successor decided to assume the unfinished pyramid and rewrite a part of history?

I always find it funny when superstitious people accuse 'atheists' of certainty without proof. For most of us 'atheists', the issue is that we're willing to accept that we dont understand some things. We just don't understand them. I don't need to invent some mythology to explain everything I can't otherwise explain, and I don't need to blindly assume others who fear the unknown so much that they must attempt to explain everything.

You won't find me claiming that there is no god - or flying spagetti monster. All I'll claim is that absent any evidence whatsoever I find the concepts pretty silly. The absence of an explanation for everything is not proof of a divine - it's just proof that we don't know everything (surprise surprise).

The video in the original post in this thread is borderline retarded. It presents a straw man position of atheists, a position of certainty about things that present opportunities for contradiction. Who says that atheists all believe that every effect must have a cause? It's just bloody obvious that all of our experiences suggest this is the trend, so it's probably wise to expect to find a cause when we find an effect. Calling it a law doesn't change anything. The video essentially says that atheists can't explain what caused or came before the big bang, therefor there must not have been any big bang. Well, we don't know that there was one - we just see everything moving radially out from a central direction. Is it stupider to believe that at one point all the matter was closer together - given it's current trajectory - and that something happened to blow it all outward ....
or is it more stupid to believe that some unprovable and inexplicable divine entity that loves us but works in intentionally mysterious ways set all the gears into motion and is quietly (usually) watching over us?

I know which explanation comforts children more, I'll let you guess. Let me summarize:
1) We just don't know, but hey here are some interesting observations and theories that explain parts of what we see
2) God loves you. Don't worry about what's under your bed or hiding in shadows, because everything happens for a reason and god - the ultimate reason-creator loves you. Just be good.

And lastly - I can understand why people might hate atheists, sort of. Sure, some of them do preach. But remember, even an atheist who doesn't care to talk about it will constantly be bombarded by crazy religious people who INSIST on saving souls. It gets old having people say crazy things to you, things with no basis in observable reality, often things that defy all experiences ever recorded or personally experienced, and often things patently false (like that guy's math - no comments on that Bap? Oh that's right - you KNOW it's impossible. Bap, master engineer, doth say so.). Is it really so wrong to preach back at people? If it is - I sure hope no religious people bother to reply to my comments here.

not a bad post.

mind watching this one? It's pretty cool too.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/KFjvgzpHr88&feature=g-wl

marcus says

I meant it loosely speaking. That they may have had some attributes that have been lost. These attributes would not have to be physiological. They could be social or spiritual, or even just some combination of habits that were very ingrained which no longer are.

Such things can become physiological in a way, I would think, over a period of many generations.

Well, they obviously had some practices and knowledge that have been lost over time because beliefs changed or it was no longer necessary to do things that way, but that clearly isn't a matter of being more evolved. If you are going to say anything, then surely referring to them as a more primitive society would be the logical route.

Bap33 says

1) There was a big assed stone lid covering a box. It was ASSUMED to be a tomb until the lid was removed. A multi-ton lid. And inside was nothing. Not a bone, not a rock, not a clump of hair, no spider, no ant, no writing. Under a closed, multi-ton lid. So, what, EXACTLY, makes this box, sitting in a pyramid that had no entrance and had to be blasted into, a tomb .. and not just a myserious box? The evidence it is a "sarcophagus", and not just a large sealed box inside a large sealed box, has not been made known to me. Please link it for me, thanks.

Ah, an internet expert. I presume your years of research puts you ahead of every reputed egyptologist on the planet.

Bap33 says

The "liberal" tag comes from your "smart people know there is no God", plus your odd view that the only interaction between religion and science on this planet is the Spanish Inquisition.

Eh? Where did I mention anything about the Spanish inquisition?

Bap33 says

You are wrong about your opinion of man's building abilities. There are THOUSANDS of stones we can not move or replicate their positioning. THOUSANDS. You will not read nor listen to any information that does not fit the box you have placed history in.

What are you talking about? I mean seriously, what is it you are saying? That there are thousands of stones we cannot move or replicate their positioning? So let me get this straight, we can build a skyscraper to just short of 900m, but we can't move a few stones or position them pointing a certain way. Ho, ho. Do you actually think aliens did it?

Bap33 says

You folks that do not trust or believe in spiritual things are now in a tuff spot. You have to keep believing that the early humans that figured out farming, schools, medicine, animal husbandry, calendars, writing, math, counting, money, family, tribe, voting, chiefs, forks, knives, tools, fire, textiles ... pretty much everything that was needed for man to survive the ice ages and get us to this point ...... and they built these huges momuments and sky-viewed pictures, and lived life with a focus on the spiritual ... well, they were all wrong and your godless universe where man is all there is, is all there is. I happen to disagree with you and agree with ancient man and the Apache.

Those are some remarkable achievements. How did we ever manage to come up with such things over thousands of years? You'd think we had developed speech and were possessors of reasonable brain power.

And you agree with ancient man and the apache? Those are rather a lot of differing views on spirituality that you must have swirling around your brain. No wonder you are so confused.

Bap33 says

I enjoy this subject. I think the ego required to think "now" is somehow more relevant than "then" is one very big ego. That may be how they make themselves believe that man causes global climate changes.

We're alive now, so I guess that now is just a tad more relevant to most people than life 5,000 years ago.

And it's not ego that makes people think humans are changing the climate, it's science.

ok Bigsby, you are not interested in a point of view or information that does not fit into your life box. Enjoy your libtopian view, no biggy. Cheers.

oh, you asked where you mentioned the Spanish Inquisitian .... you never did ... but, you kept refering to great minds of science that would pretend to be spiritual, or profess a belief in God, just to keep from being found out by the Big Bad Catholic Church .. right? Well, believe it or not, that was a movement to rid Europe of the evil islamists (begining) and Jews (continues), but ended up being a real bummer for science guys too. Galileo had to go before the Inquisition (not in Spain, but the same system), and a whole bunch of Jewish astrometers were killed by the Catholics too .... so, I was just connecting your dots. If you were not referring to the Catholic Churches way of keeping science quiet, then what were you talking about?

@marcus and matt and others,
did you watch that second show? what did you think?