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> it leaves "assume it's magic and extrapolate" as the only viable world view. Yeah, and, to be fair to people in the past, the assumption that similar things
by tralarpa 7y ago
> it leaves "assume it's magic and extrapolate" as the only viable world view.
Yeah, and, to be fair to people in the past, the assumption that similar things are connected often works well in practice. If you already know what a tiger is and you see a lion for the first time, your assumption that "things with large teeth are dangerous" will save your life. You are not starting to write a paper about the taxonomy of mammals in that situation :)
- whatshisface 7y agoThe assumption wasn't that similar things had similar properties, it was that similar things had sympathetic connections where one could affect another. In your example, that would be the belief that lion bites could be treated with tiger fur because both lions and tigers looked like big cats.