4 ms·

Just a great demonstration of how much knowledge we used to not have, how much we still have to obtain, and the weird ways we'll get it!

• mc32 5y ago
  The obvious realm is the deep seas -we know little about that. We only took plate tectonics seriously starting in the ‘60s.
  • jstimpfle 5y ago
    ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Wegener https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Wegener )
  • lqet 5y ago
    The deep sea terrifies me enough [0] that I wouldn't be too surprised if a fish would return from down there with an arrow through its body. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_sea_creature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_sea_creature
    • ginko 5y ago
      Not a fish, but whales with ancient harpoons lodged in them are found on a semi-regular basis. http://awesomeocean.com/guest-columns/harpoon-bowhead-whale/ http://awesomeocean.com/guest-columns/harpoon-bowhead-whale/
    • robin_reala 5y ago
      That’s common enough that it’s got a name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalassophobia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalassophobia
• kiliantics 5y ago
  There's also a lot of knowledge we used to have and which we've lost. I believe past humans had a lot of knowledge about e.g. ecosystem dynamics before the agricultural revolution which we eventually stopped passing down to younger generations once our lifestyles became fully dependent on our own artificial ecosystems. Now we are slowly (re)learning things about natural systems that we sadly neglected to consider in our hubris during the industrial era. Sadly, since we may have destroyed too much at this point.
  • Y_Y 5y ago
    "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  • philistine 5y ago
    There's a strong argument to be made that the Amazon jungle is a past work of engineering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491%3A_New_Revelations_of_the_Americas_Before_Columbus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491%3A_New_Revelations_of_the...
    • yread 5y ago
      Interesting, perhaps you wanted to link directly to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta ?
• dkarp 5y ago
  similarly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel_life_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel_life_history
  • bronzeage 5y ago
    > In 1876, as a young student in Austria, Sigmund Freud dissected hundreds of eels in search of the male sex organs. He had to concede failure in his first major published research paper, and turned to other issues in frustration. What a Freudian story, looking for male genitals. I wonder what would Freud say about that...