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"Scandinavians traded for fancy glass objects from Egypt and Mesopotamia as early as 3,400 years ago " And believe it or not they were doing the same thing 110

• tjradcliffe 12y ago
  There are certain stories that remain perennially "surprising" no matter how often they are reported on. For example, "Engineers use nature as a source of inspiration" is still reported with breathless amazement despite every engineer for the past century (at least) being taught to look to nature for inspiration. Likewise, "Companies go green to save money" apparently astonishes people, decades after Interface became famous for doing precisely that. And "Old people had sex and porn" will never get old, any more than "Ancient peoples traded over the whole world". I'm not sure why these stories get the "that's surprising" reaction they do. Simple ignorance won't cut it, because they all get reported on so many times that eventually ignorance would decline, but it never does. It may have something to do with people's stereotypes overwhelming their knowledge, so even though they know engineers are sensitive and thoughtful people or that ancient peoples traded widely, that knowledge never "sticks" to the stereotype of engineers as uncultured and insensitive or ancient peoples as immobile and sedentary.
  • olavk 12y ago
    > Simple ignorance won't cut it, because they all get reported on so many times that eventually ignorance would decline, but it never does. Well, new people get born all the time. And they are totally ignorant until they learn things.