Ancient Intelligence

There is a possibly apocryphal story about a conversation on the subject of the solar system between Wittgenstein and a student. Wittgenstein asks the student why early people thought that the sun went around the earth. The student says that it’s because it looks that way. Wittgenstein asks, “And how would it look if the earth went around the sun?”
Gradual Calamity

It would look the same of course. It is easier to believe the story that earlier peoples were not as intelligent as we are – and thus believed a lie. While the truth is closer to the idea that these peoples took their observations (which were elaborate, precise, and accurate) and built upon them.