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11/12/09
Without abbeys full of monks who spent years painstakingly reproducing not just religous texts but also the writings of many ancient philosophers and historians, much of that knowledge would have been lost forever.
Sure the church caused much of the strife during those times, but there was also no one else bothering to preserve important historical knowledge. Monarch during this time did not care about funding libraries, museums, centers for the arts and so on and so forth.
As someone who has a rather low opinion of the Catholic church in general even I can respect their role in preserving and advancing human culture during the Middle Ages. #vatican
11/12/09
while there were monks reproducing mostly religious texts during the so called 'dark ages' it was the Muslims who preserved and then transfered (see for eg. Reconquista) this knowledge to Europe. The libraries of the Islamic world were the ones that 'saved' the knowledge of the greeks/romans, and gave us the number 0 (from India) among countless other things. #vatican
11/12/09
11/12/09
any reliable history of mathematics, optics/physics/astronomy, philosophy or the relations between Europe and the Muslim world between the 10th and 14th centuries will demonstrate what I've said above.
To claim that the Catholic church is responsible for preventing "much of the world's history and important cultural advancements" being "lost in the Dark Ages" is patently false.
to say that "no one else bothering to preserve important historical knowledge" is equally false - and reveals a simple ignorance of the facts. the 'dark ages' were only dark in Europe. #vatican
11/12/09
11/11/09
Oh yeah, the Vatican - specially the pope - is so taking a kindler, gentler, more active role in science and technological progress these days... #vatican
11/11/09
Maybe aliens were the ones who made Mary pregnant, without the loss of virginity O.o #vatican
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Also, that picture is funny as hell. #vatican
11/11/09
Shuuunnnnnnnnnnn-ah #vatican
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@SilverBlade2k: #vatican
11/11/09
@Kaiser-Machead: Father! #vatican
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12/10/08
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12/10/08
There home planet has been destroyed. They're all already on Earth.
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12/10/08
If you read enough on theoretical science and physics a common theme is the "goldilocks zone", or rather zones that the earth exists in. Basically, for intelligent life as we know it to evolve, many, many specific conditions have to be met. We aren't 100% certain how many of these zones are absolutely necessary for some level of intelligence to exist, but it's safe to say that the kind of intelligence that can travel between galaxies is a rare fucking thing.
But then the definition of "as we know it" is problematic. I have a hard time understanding the UFO phenomenon as extraterrestrial 'contact' or 'visitation'. The evidence that's out there doesn't isn't very convincing other than that something we don't understand is happening, and It could be nothing more than the 3-dimensional shadows of their 5-dimensional spaceships flying past our planet. My thinking is that any of our encounters with higher intelligences would be almost beyond our comprehension, i mean these guys could be x-ray colored and made out of dark matter, and eat black holes as a method of communication. The odds of finding something similar to us, that we can interact or have the remotest possibility of communicating with seem like a huge long shot.
12/10/08
"but it's safe to say that the kind of intelligence that can travel between galaxies is a rare fucking thing."
how do you define 'rare'? given the timescale of the universe, it's likely that there are races of technological beings thousands, millions, or even billions of years ahead of us. WE are going to figure out intergalactic travel in the next 1000 years if all goes well. so if you assume that any intelligent, driven population will eventually go starward, then you've got to conclude that, in all likelihood they already have.
video:
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