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that is a little funny you're right. It reminds me of something interesting I read, don't know if it's true or not. I heard that in the "middle ages" (or dark
by thrwaway3948 7y ago
that is a little funny you're right. It reminds me of something interesting I read, don't know if it's true or not. I heard that in the "middle ages" (or dark ages) it was taken for granted that the ancients -- meaning the Greeks and maybe even the Romans, not sure -- had been way wiser and more knowledgeable than them. (You know, as they read Euclid's elements and Socrates and stuff.) As I remember it, all the way through the Renaissance that was the thinking, that the ancients had known way more.
Imagine thinking that the ancients knew more than we ever will, and trying to study their works to get at just some of the wisdom they had held. I think few if any people read ancient authors that way today.
however my memory on this subject may be shaky.
- abraae 7y agoAnd today, the internet has fuelled the Dunning-Kruger effect so that Joe Bloggs feels free to dump on anyone who isn't in his Facebook group.
- DenisM 7y agoYou might be thinking about the Sapiens book.
- jbverschoor 7y agoThere was this excellent video about the misconception that technology and knowledge advances over time. It does not. It fades, gets lost. Where are the Steve Wozniaks and bill gates? Where are the people truely understanding this stuff. Where are the people who can optimize code like back in the days?
- michaelvoz 7y agoI think you are conflating the notion that, at a given time slice, a majority of the popular sentiment about the future may not have always been positive, with your own opinions of modern engineering. For vast swaths of human mind, popular opinion tended to see the future as bleak and the past as filled with greater men, accomplishments, etc - the good days are behind us. Post industrial revolution thinking and adoption of science has mostly changed that opinion to hope - the good days are ahead of us. As for people who can optimize code like back in the day: I am not sure where you work, but I bet if you look at the best engineers in the best tech companies today (google/ Facebook / Netflix / amazon / Uber / palantir) you’ll find a lot to be impressed with.