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>I think people take knowledge for granted. Another problem is people assume prevailing discovery narratives are truthful. It's harder to do that in the scienc
by ashwagary 4y ago
>I think people take knowledge for granted.
Another problem is people assume prevailing discovery narratives are truthful. It's harder to do that in the sciences because of the breadcrumbs left behind.
>it is extremely hard to be Newton and think about it first and prove it.
Newton wasn't first, Calculus was known in India almost 1000 years earlier and it wouldn't be surprising if Newton was a student of work gathered from parts of the world that were illegal to credit with such discoveries at the time.
- dannyobrien 4y agoIllegal in what way?
- ashwagary 4y agoThe European Doctrine of Christian Discovery applied to all property including intellectual property that was "discovered" in the rest of the world. Non-christian origins could not be recognized by western institutions until very recently. Generally the first European christian to relay existing information from the non-christian world was credited with invention or discovery. In many cases, people still credited with discovery didn't fully understand the source material and failed at relaying it accurately.
- nearbuy 4y agoI think you have your dates confused, as the Kerala school was only a few hundred years before Newton, and pretending that what was discovered in India is the same as what Newton discovered is misleading. If we're crediting whoever first made theorems about infinite sums or derivatives to be the inventor of calculus, then calculus also predates Newton in Europe. A lot of people contributed theorems over the centuries that would now be considered part of calculus. Developing a mathematical framework like calculus is more of a gradual and continuous building of knowledge than a single event. There's a reason Leibniz and Newton happened to independently create calculus at the same time.