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This brings to mind one of the more fascinating topics discussed in Bill Bryson's (phenomenal, wide-ranging) book A Short History of Nearly Everything. Until re

This brings to mind one of the more fascinating topics discussed in Bill Bryson's (phenomenal, wide-ranging) book A Short History of Nearly Everything. Until reading that book, I had no clue that the discovery of plate tectonics caused huge religious and philosophical turmoil similar to the discovery of natural selection. It shattered the image of Earth as a static creation of God, who of course was beneficent enough to put rivers near old cities and provide pretty consistent rain patterns near farmland, etc. etc.

xref 3y ago
I guess that’s a continuation of what Galileo shattered hundreds of years previously with his five observations through his homemade telescope that the Catholic Church was gonna burn him for. From memory all these bodies were supposed to be “perfect and unblemished” or some such: - lunar surface was textured - Venus appeared as a crescent - Jupiter had its own moons - Saturn had “ears” (aperture was too small to resolve rings) - Sun had spots
- lIl-IIIl 3y ago
  The moon appears textured to the naked eye?
  - xref 3y ago
    I should have found a better word, shadows or relief or something. Ie: not smooth
    - saikia81 3y ago
      I think he means to say that you can see the texture with the naked eye. So should not have been controversial. But many such stories exist of controversies inside a normalized society.