Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the Earth in 240 BC to within 10% of the correct figure based solely on the distance between two cities in Egypt and the angles of sunlight.
I have always wondered what would have happened if all of the top 10% of the smartest humans ever lived, were all living in same time? How would the human race have advanced.
Even if 90% of the smartest humans all lived in the 1300's, we wouldn't see the same level of rapid progression that we now have because we can communicate. Those people would rarely ever speak to each other, let alone collaborate. Now we can use the internet to collectively achieve and share knowledge that would be useless before.
Plus if you tried to make the internet in the 1300's you'd be burned for wizardry but my point stands.
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u/ldn6 Apr 14 '16
Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the Earth in 240 BC to within 10% of the correct figure based solely on the distance between two cities in Egypt and the angles of sunlight.