I’m thinking of things like heliocentrism where there was some modern discovery or revelation by science that invalidated a common assumption prior.

My understanding is that flat earth is more a recent phenomena but I’d love to hear some ancient ideas people now miss. Did people think trees weren’t alive? Did people think evaporation was where things simply disappeared?

I’d would love to hear these ideas.

  • superkretEnglish
    2·
    8 days ago

    People (=male doctors) postulated that when women are emotional or horny, that’s a sickness called “Female Hysteria”.
    It was caused by the womb wondering around inside the body.
    The cure was to trigger “Hysterical Paroxysm” by a doctor stimulating her genitals with a vibrator.

  • fiasco@possumpat.ioEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    The funny thing about heliocentrism is, that isn’t really the modern view either. The modern view is that there are no privileged reference frames, and heliocentrism and geocentrisms are just questions of reference frame. You can construct consistent physical models from either, and for example, you’ll probably use a geocentric model if you’re gonna launch a satellite.

    But another fun one is the so-called discovery of oxygen, which is really about what’s going on with fire. Before Lavoisier, the dominant belief was that fire is the release of phlogiston. What discredited this was the discovery of materials that get heavier when burned.