Everybody thinks they're Galileo

Comments

• m_f@midwest.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

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  • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Tbf, we should still be laughing at Columbus. He didn’t prove the Earth was round, we knew that already. He died believing he had “discovered” India. That and he was a racist, baby killing, monster.

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    • lugal@sopuli.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      He wanted to prove that earth is small enough to sail around it and he that he discovered a path to “India” to his death

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    • TurboHarbinger@feddit.cl ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      To his defense, what you describe was pretty much the rule back then before the 1700, for “nobles” I mean.

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  • anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Columbus was wrong. He thought the diameter of the earth was much smaller that the common estimate at the time which turned out close to the actual value.

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• lugal@sopuli.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  My favorite example is that some dude predicted that cities will swim in horse shit in the future. Than cars were invented and horses in cities are a rarity. All the people you talk about got it right because you never talk about those who got it wrong #selectionbias

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  • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    “Survivor bias” also applies here.

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  • kbal@fedia.io ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It's a good thing our new mechanical horses have no waste products at all, otherwise that dude might've had a point.

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• mindbleach@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Every conversation with Bitcoin cranks: “People doubted the internet!!!” A few weirdos did, but most were on-board for obvious reasons. Meanwhile most tech predictions were pessimistic and correct because most tech advancements do not become a whole new god-damn economy unto themselves.

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