wrote in message ...
In article , (Ken Muldrew) writes:
wrote:

Heck, I recall various topics which I studied, passed exams on, even
got decent grades, only to find later when I actually started using
them in real work that I really didn't understand what I'm doing. No
practice, no knowledge.

"One must learn by doing the thing; for though you think you know it,
you have no certainty until you try."
Sophocles

Neat, I wasn't aware of this quote. These Greeks were damn smart.

We've achieved one or two more practical things ... and a bunch of
impractical things ... but basically, their intellectualism was fully
developed from the modern perspective: the smartest Greeks were
obviously on the same wavelength as the smartest people today, which
doesn't seem to be possible to say about any earlier time.

Happy confluence of genetic material and a liesured class? They
coined the term "barbarian" also -- they were the first non.

Edward Green wrote:

We've achieved one or two more practical things ... and a bunch of
impractical things ... but basically, their intellectualism was fully
developed from the modern perspective: the smartest Greeks were
obviously on the same wavelength as the smartest people today, which
doesn't seem to be possible to say about any earlier time.

The Greeks were part way to modern. They underrated the importance of
experiment in science. They did not clear distinguish discovery of laws
from justification of the laws.

Credit goes to some of the Greeks for moving questions about how or what
is going on in the world from the realm of the gods to the realm of the
natural. That was the necessary first step to what we now call science.

Aristotle did not get past descriptive laws. The few quantitative laws
he hypothesized were just plain wrong. See -The Birth of a New Physics-
by I. Bernard Cohen.

Humans (in their modern biological form) have been smart since they
evolved. The smartest human who lived 10,000 years ago was probably just
as bright as the smart person living today. He just did not know as
much. We are the inheritors of 10,000 years of accumulated wisdom,
mistakes and concepts. All beginnings are hard. We are the fortunate
inheritors of what many people sweated blood to comprehend. We get it
spoon fed to us in our schools.

Bob Kolker

In article , (Edward Green) writes:
wrote in message ...
In article , (Ken Muldrew) writes:
wrote:

Heck, I recall various topics which I studied, passed exams on, even
got decent grades, only to find later when I actually started using
them in real work that I really didn't understand what I'm doing. No
practice, no knowledge.

"One must learn by doing the thing; for though you think you know it,
you have no certainty until you try."
Sophocles

Neat, I wasn't aware of this quote. These Greeks were damn smart.

We've achieved one or two more practical things ... and a bunch of
impractical things ... but basically, their intellectualism was fully
developed from the modern perspective: the smartest Greeks were
obviously on the same wavelength as the smartest people today, which
doesn't seem to be possible to say about any earlier time.

Yes, I agree.

Happy confluence of genetic material and a liesured class?

They were leisured classes in the preceding empires (Egypt,
Assyria, Babilon, Persia, ...). Probably much larger than in greece,
since there was more wealth present to support such classes. More
population from which to draw bright people, too. So, that's not it.
Genetical material? Perhaps.

They coined the term "barbarian" also -- they were the first non.

At least first we know about.

Mati Meron | "When you argue with a fool,
| chances are he is doing just the same"

In article %pavc.38858$Ly.21243@attbi_s01,
"Robert J. Kolker" wrote:


Edward Green wrote:

We've achieved one or two more practical things ... and a bunch of
impractical things ... but basically, their intellectualism was fully
developed from the modern perspective: the smartest Greeks were
obviously on the same wavelength as the smartest people today, which
doesn't seem to be possible to say about any earlier time.

The Greeks were part way to modern. They underrated the importance of
experiment in science. They did not clear distinguish discovery of laws
from justification of the laws.

Credit goes to some of the Greeks for moving questions about how or what
is going on in the world from the realm of the gods to the realm of the
natural. That was the necessary first step to what we now call science.

Aristotle did not get past descriptive laws. The few quantitative laws
he hypothesized were just plain wrong. See -The Birth of a New Physics-
by I. Bernard Cohen.

Humans (in their modern biological form) have been smart since they
evolved. The smartest human who lived 10,000 years ago was probably just
as bright as the smart person living today. He just did not know as
much.

Nitpik. Those humans knew more in some areas than we do. If I
were transported back to that time, I'd be considered extremely
stupid.

/BAH

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