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Ancient wisdom often sounds like common sense now that it is commomly taught. What is some ancient wisdom that we no longer teach because it was wrong? (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago by TheLadyAugust@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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[-] ReaderTunesOctopus@lemmy.world 102 points 10 months ago

Check out the history of bird migration science. There was everything from birds going to the moon for winter, swallows burrowing in the mud, transmorphing to different species, up to the 19th century

[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 11 points 10 months ago

Add to that where people thought bugs and vermin come from. Obviously they spring fully formed for dirt and muck. Even rats come from rotting grain.

[-] ReaderTunesOctopus@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Sounds stupid, but not worse than tiny animals in your blood making you sick (germ theory), or basically anything from cosmology from the Big Bang to dark energy

[-] tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

For anyone curious the history really is interesting, when reading previously I learned about Pfeilstorch, storks throughout the years that had flown to Germany with African arrows stuck in them. First seen at a time when people didn't understand bird migration, it helped to explain where all the birds would go.

this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2023

289 points (96.5% liked)

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