Okay, a rant: The second part of this, the part where she explains that astronomy is an ancient science, is REALLY important. This falls under the myth category of “people before 1900 were dumbdumb.” 1/ https://twitter.com/AzieDee/status/1335684526148788224

It’s a problem with science ed, yes, but it’s ALSO a problem with historical ed that doesn’t recognize the intelligence, creativity, and ingenuity of premodern and prehistoric peoples. The person she’s responding to is “ancient aliens lite” whether they realize it or not 2/

This is a soapbox of mine, because little things like “people back in the Middle Ages couldn’t understand astronomy” SEEM innocuous, but lead to much more sinister misunderstandings about “progress” and “civilization” that include shit like race science. It’s all of a type. 3/

Behaviorally-modern humans now are just as smart as we always were. We had culture, art, poetry, astronomy, earth science, and yes, technology (appropriate to the circumstance). So many premodern solutions were and are ignored because they come from a culture w/o some aspect 4/

Of “civilization” (read: western civilization). It is seldom divorced from colonialism. eg. Smallpox inoculation was practiced in India, China, and Africa CENTURIES before Cotton Mather got the idea from an enslaved person, and the medical community rejected it as barbaric. 5/

This isn’t a misanthropic thread. Humans are brilliant, and we always have been. Do we know calculus now when we didn’t 10,000 years ago? Sure. But think too about how much modern knowledge depends on ancient knowledge, and how much MORE ancient knowledge is lost forever 6/

To assume that science and technology are modern things is to take intellectual agency away from premodern societies. It is the same thought process that leads to taking intellectual agency away from other CONTEMPORARY cultures. Many people don’t make that leap, but enough do. 7/

Historical ed in the US NEEDS to recognize that science and creativity are human behaviors, not the product of 19th century white men. To ignore this fact is to facilitate the innocuous misunderstandings about premodern cultures and the deadly colonialism of modern cultures. 8/8