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> Historically and culturally, Pluto is considered a planet. A very brief period of history. Give it 50 years and the number of people who will call it a plane
by BeetleB 1mo ago
> Historically and culturally, Pluto is considered a planet.
A very brief period of history. Give it 50 years and the number of people who will call it a planet will be close to 0.
Let's not overstate Pluto's significance in culture. People call it a planet only because that's what they were taught in school. Not because of other (very few) cultural references. As it has been dropped from the curriculum, so shall it be dropped from people's minds.
Compared to the other planets it's rarely referred to in stories, etc. It has very little significance in today's culture beyond the fact that it was taught in school.
That's not the case for something like Jupiter. If they decided tomorrow that gas giants are no longer planets, it will remain in arts and culture. Pluto? Highly unlikely.
I don't think my kid knows about Pluto. That doesn't bother me in the slightest.
- alnwlsn 1mo agoThis is not insignificant. The period of Pluto's planethood represents just about 0.76% of recorded human history, but that does cover around 7% of the total number of people who have ever lived, about 10x the 'average'. Of course a lot of culture comes out of that. I think the 20th century will be important to historians for a very very long time.
- BeetleB 1mo ago> The period of Pluto's planethood represents just about 0.76% of recorded human history, but that does cover around 7% of the total number of people who have ever lived, about 10x the 'average'. Of course a lot of culture comes out of that. It's an odd way to analyze it. Plenty of things have been known for longer and it doesn't bother us if they're not taught in school, etc.
- odyssey7 1mo agoThe meaning of a word comes from how its speakers use it. When people stop referring to Pluto as a planet, it will cease to be one. Until then, we are living in a reality in which Pluto both is a planet and is not a planet, depending on the context.
- BeetleB 1mo ago> When people stop referring to Pluto as a planet, it will cease to be one. I'm not disagreeing. What I'm saying is that compared to most other planets, people are going to stop referring to Pluto as a planet, by the mere fact that they'll stop teaching it in school. It has no cultural momentum unlike Mars, Venus, etc.