What do we know about history?

[Ace of Spades]

For a while now I've thought about history, and thought to myself "Really, what DO we know about it?" I mean, were we actually there when all of this "so called" documented history happened? The answer is no. We weren't. So why do we assume? Then, just yesterday, I got into a conversation about war, and nuclear weapons. Then, I thought to myself. What if our fate, was the same as the "dinosaurs" we call today? What if at one point in time, these "dinosaurs" were just like us, and had fully developed societies, government system, criminal justice, an advanced civilization, just as we are today. But then...they also had war, as well as developed nuclear weapons. What if they all destroyed themselves using these nuclear weapons, and in doing this, they were mutated, into the "dinosaurs" that we know today. What if the reptiles of this earth, are decendents of that civilization, but in the mutation, lost their intelligence, as well as memory. What if the Ice Age, was nothing more than a long nuclear winter. And such is our fate.

      Like I said before, we really don't know anything about the past. We really don't know that the "gods" of Egypt were gods that they worshipped, do we? We just assume that they were, because they were on pretty much everything. We don't really know that Heiroglyphics was a form of writing, we just assume that was. We really don't know that the colluseum was a place for fighting, we just assume that it was. We assume about the past, we don't really know anything about it, because we weren't there. I mean heck, the civilization that rises after us might think that we worshipped mice, after finding the ruins of Disney World. They might think that music (as in notes) was a form of language of ours, and they might try to translate it, just as we have tried to translate these other ancient "languages" today. I honestly think that the life we live today, is just a case of amnesia, and that we know nothing about the past. However, I do think that one point in time we did know, but something must have happened which made people want to forget about these occurrences and just live anew.

So what do you guys think? Do you agree that we don't really know anything about the past because we weren't there, or do you disagree? Discuss.

[VahnGrave]

Well supposedly, they know from old documents.

For all they know, this coulda been some psycho guy huffing cocaine in some jail cell.

However... I believe in the whole "Pangea" deal.

[blackskullwarlock]

Old documents revealed a lot about the past. Unearthed relics and stuff like that all tell us about history. The best examples are Sanguozhi and the recently-found He Fei Castle in China.

[VahnGrave]

Originally posted by blackskullwarlock
Old documents revealed a lot about the past. Unearthed relics and stuff like that all tell us about history. The best examples are Sanguozhi and the recently-found He Fei Castle in China.

I believe in alot of the stuff they say about egypt, because they actually explored the tombs, and they know.

[Ace of Spades]

I don't know, even though they've explored the tombs and such, they're only going on assumption that "this was that, and that was this" Nobody really knows for sure what was what, because they weren't there. I mean, even I'M going on assumption, but either way it means that we know nothing about the past.

[VahnGrave]

Plus, how do they know all these dudes' names? They didn't PERSONALLY know them, Did they?

[Shady Ultima]

We know from what we find. You are correct that there is a lot we do not know, but they use common logic as well.

"We really don't know that the colluseum was a place for fighting, we just assume that it was." Actually they do know that it was a place for fighting. There are many remains from the Roman empire that point to the Colliseum as a battlegroud for sport.

[WarxePB]

Plus, how do they know all these dudes' names? They didn't PERSONALLY know them, Did they?

Yes, but do you think that way back when, the dinosaurs were actually called what we call them now?

[AsakuraHao2004]

Your dinosaur theory is pretty fuckin' awesome, but we haven't found neuclear weapon remains buried along with dinosaur bones.

What if, say, aliens intercepted our species 1000 years ago because we were caught in a war with them, and when it was over, they re-created earth in their view, mountains, landmark, and everything, then they put the hhumans in their place and gave us knowledge of the past, and buried bones and artifacts for us to find, and then turned us all "on" and the real time humans began was some random day in the 1900s. Everything before that was just memories implanted by aliens.

[VahnGrave]

Originally posted by Warxe_PhoenixBlade

quote:

Plus, how do they know all these dudes' names? They didn't PERSONALLY know them, Did they?

Yes, but do you think that way back when, the dinosaurs were actually called what we call them now?

Yeah, they were probably called "Philipnizara" and "Johndoopforshoes."

But seriously.. They don't know crap about what REALLY happened.

[Midnight9795]

What do we know about history....history is doomed to repeat it's self..Hehehe...pretty much, everything is based on 'assumptions' There is no real way to believe 100% that everything that has been discovered is what they say, all they can do is assume and share their views to us. It's impossible to tell which is true, and which is false because we were never there. Thoughts will always go around about the past, but I doubt there will ever be answers unless someone can go back to the past which I doubt as well. People are just using evidence as their proof, but there is probably more to it then that. This is in a way, why science and history come into conflict with religion...

[DragonBlaze]

If dinosuars were that advanced, we would have found some sort of relics that would back that up. There is no evidence of structures, weapons, or anything else like that, plus their skulls weren't large enough to hold a large brain. All the evidence we have points to the conclusion that they weren't advanced. We can never be 100% sure, but we're pretty darn close.

The reason we don't know much about our past is because we lost it during the dark ages. Other than that, we don't have any information really old because writing wasn't developed back then. And unless someone is still alive from back then, we can't be too sure about what happened.

All we have to go by is evidence, like in a murder trial, we can't be 100% sure, but we do the best we can to find out what we can with the evidence shown. Years later when we find new evidence, we may change the way we look upon somthing.

Yeah the further we go back in time the less we know, and thats how its always gonna be. Untill I invent a time machine and check it out for myself that is

[Drace]

Originally posted by Ace of Spades
We don't really know that Heiroglyphics was a form of writing, we just assume that was.

Actually, we can know that for sure.
Napoleon Bonaparte(I think) found back in the late 1800 a stone with on it 3 different writings. One was heiroglyphics and another was greek. And knowing that the Greeks had a form of writing, we can be sure that the heiroglyphes are too.

[Midnight9795]

Umm...I have a question, < <;; > >;; wouldn't there have been people who still wrote (or er..draw, w/e) this langauge..I mean, it couldn't have just disappeared like that. Or could it? I mean, drawing is another form of writing..right..?

[Trevlac]

See this is the evidence that I present about the Bible.  It's hideously been altered.