this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
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Science Memes

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[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 56 points 11 months ago (15 children)

It's fair to imagine the challenges a building team would face 2k plus years ago.

Like in this example, building levers that are strong enough to lift the load. I bet they broke a bunch of stuff.

But eventually they figured it out, via trial and error. Levers, ramps, etc. They probably couldn't describe why those things were inherently the best way, but more approached from the "we tried 9 other ways and they suck. This is the best way."

Next, the phrase "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" is relevant here, but in a backwards way.

Since we struggle to imagine what it would take for an ancient society to master the techniques to build these things, we therefore begin to grasp for unrealistic conclusions (magic...read...aliens).

Same goes for Europeans building cathedrals and stuff, the trick is the history, the methods and the results were more documented and understood.

There are some racism concerns that I think go beyond and around what I've discussed, which is more abstract. I'm not discounting the other topics, just not covering them here.

[–] YoorWeb@lemmy.world 34 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (8 children)

Egyptians didn't just decide "hey, let's build a pyramid". Mastabas were first, the shape of a Pyramid evolved later.

Not to mention that there's a few faulty pyramids (e.g. Bent Pyramid which were finished quickly or all together abandoned before completion.

Merer forgot to mention aliens in his diary too.

But hey, aliens did it. They couldn't just land on Earth. Their ships were designed to land on a Pyramid because that's how intelligent race would build their spaceships. Don't question it, just trust the specialists (who wrote books!).

Anyway, for anyone interested in Ancient Egypt, the best thing out there (I think) are Bob Briers lectures also available on Audible.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Don't know why you replied this to me, but cool links.

I never suggested there's any validity in the alien-pyramid thing, only described how it could have entered the discussion in the first place.

("We don't know what they did, seems hard even for us, must have been magic". Pathway)

Not advocating anything, not arguing anything, no tinfoil on my frog's heads, they live naturally.

[–] SkinnyTimmy@lemm.ee 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Pretty sure they were just agreeing with you. It's like an argument you imagine in the shower, but co-op mode.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago

Just covering my ass, cause Lemmy

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