It’s typical — I find out that we’re (NASA) going to work with the Russian and European space agencies to colonize the moon, from a blog about magic.
We live in an age of miracle and wonder, when we’re learning as much about the past as we are about the future, and our sense of the world in which we live is being shaped and re-shaped by all sorts of weirdness, regularly. Gordon at Rune Soup does an irregular feature where he points at the prior history of our planet as being full of serious oddities. There is a dominant narrative of history in the Western world, and the evidence has been accumulating for quite some time that the World History course I taught for 15 years (while more or less knowing it was full of holes), needs to be elaborately re-narrated. Not with crazy stories of ancient aliens or visitors from Sirius, necessarily, but at least to acknowledge that the Americas were probably settled (fully settled) more than 100,000 years ago, and that this is not the first time that people on opposite sides of the planet have been able to communicate and trade with one another.
And now we’re talking about going back to space, and going with the intention to stay. I think of the miracles and wonders that may lie ahead, and I’m hopeful. I’m also a little fearful, because voices I respect suggest that this is yet another bubble to inflate that may all yet come crashing down. Still, Dum spiro… spero.
“but at least to acknowledge that the Americas were probably settled (fully settled) more than 100,000 years ago, and that this is not the first time that people on opposite sides of the planet have been able to communicate and trade with one another.”
Yep.
You know, my favourite history teacher in high school had a similar attitude to you: “this is the story that you will be marked against… there is however the small matter of the Sphinx being 10,000 years old. You can look into that in your own time.”
And I did.
I’m glad you did, because frankly you find as much cool stuff to share as I do… although I don’t find much lately, because I’m working on other projects. Still, I’m an avid reader. Thanks for commenting!