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I don't think you'd necessarily have to know a lot about chemistry, just some observation of volcanism. The ancient Grecian knew that ground vents & volcanoes p
by sliverstorm 10y ago
I don't think you'd necessarily have to know a lot about chemistry, just some observation of volcanism. The ancient Grecian knew that ground vents & volcanoes produced noxious fumes (e.g. hydrogen sulfide), and that volcanoes can explode and kill people in fairly obvious ways.
Not to say you could have figured out the carbon dioxide part, but you could have developed an understanding deeper than "god" or "spirits".
- mytddu 10y agoThe article says they're not sure if it was volcanic activity that triggered the release, or something else.
- andrepd 10y agoIt's easy to say so with the benefit of hindsight and centuries of accumulated scientific knowledge, but I'd say it's pretty understandable to pin such an odd and eerie event on an "evil spirit" or something similar.
- Retra 10y agoThe scholars writing for posterity may have known that. Everyone else might not.
- hoorayimhelping 10y agoI'm sure humans in several hundred years will be able to take a similarly hindsighted stance on the things that we don't have explanations for today. "I mean, you don't have to know about quantum mechanics, but honestly thinking that there's some magic invisible energy causing the universe to expand? I mean seriously, I think I probably could have come up with some kind of explanation better than 'Dark Energy.'"
- wruza 10y agoThere will still be only 1% of people aware of the phenomenon at all.