Just FYI, the modern theory of plate tectonics dates back to the 1960s but by that time it had been centuries since people first noticed that some continents looked like they had fit together and then moved apart.
Wikipedia says that in 1596,
Abraham Ortelius in his work Thesaurus Geographicus ā¦ suggested that the Americas were ātorn away from Europe and Africa ā¦ by earthquakes and floodsā and went on to say: āThe vestiges of the rupture reveal themselves if someone brings forward a map of the world and considers carefully the coasts of the three [continents].ā
I admit I do get worked up over the assumption that people in the past were stupid. It can make people in the present dangerously overconfident.
Only if they think they arenāt stupid themselves. I think everybody, including me, in past and present (and most likely in the future) is stupid.
I mean weāve got more or less the same brain people in the stone ages had and are trying to solve problems in the microcomputing age. Of course weāre going to make mistakes and most ideas we have about the universe or society are probably wrong. And of course weāll repeat the mistakes of our ancestors.
So I donāt think thinking of someone as stupid is bad, just assuming youāre less stupid is.
Sorry I get equally worked up over the assumption that people arenāt stupid.
