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> but he was great Why was he great? How does that follow as a conclusion? By your own account of the events, his “accomplishment” is the very definition of du

• pirate787 2y ago
  He was an explorer who set out to circumnavigate the globe and connect East and West, it wasn't "dumb luck" that in doing so he discovered the planet was bigger than he had estimated. Columbus was also perhaps the greatest navigator who ever lived -- he made the trip to the Americas four times, without loss of life in transit.
  • latexr 2y ago
    > he discovered the planet was bigger than he had estimated Finding out you were wrong when everyone doubted you in the first place isn’t particularly impressive. Especially when we already knew the right answer over 1500 years before (Eratosthenes). I like the Moon analogy someone else shared on the thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41835857 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41835857 One doesn’t stop being an idiot because they struck gold under wrong assumptions. They just become a lucky idiot. > Columbus was also perhaps the greatest navigator who ever lived Highly debatable. We don’t even need to leave the peninsula to find another country (Portugal) with numerous examples of people who could fit that title.