Industrial Revolution was thanks to Columbus

Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the connections between Columbus's voyages and the subsequent Industrial Revolution, focusing on the implications of discovery, reporting, and societal optimism. It also touches on misconceptions regarding intelligence, race, and economic performance, alongside personal reflections and interactions among participants.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that Columbus's discovery of the Americas fostered a mindset of optimism and imagination that contributed to technological advancements, including the invention of the electric motor.
  • Another participant argues against the common belief that economic performance is linked to intelligence or race, asserting that these factors are genetically determined but not causally connected.
  • There is a claim that the structure and functioning of the brain, as well as various abilities, have a significant genetic basis, although this does not imply a direct relationship with economic success.
  • A participant speculates on the future classification of human racial varieties based on DNA analysis, suggesting that many existing categories may change.
  • Some participants express appreciation for each other's perspectives, indicating a willingness to rethink their views.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

The discussion contains multiple competing views, particularly regarding the implications of Columbus's discoveries and the relationship between genetics, intelligence, and economic success. There is no consensus on these topics.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty about the connections between genetic factors and social outcomes, and the discussion includes speculative claims without definitive conclusions.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in the historical impacts of exploration, the interplay between genetics and social constructs, and those engaged in discussions about societal progress and misconceptions may find this thread relevant.

  • #31
can anyone tell me what keystrokes to use to type the Umlaut?
regret to say I never learned this and have no manual handy that
might say
nuisance having to copy and paste individual letters just to get Umlaut


this is a nice rhyme:

Les bienfaiteurs de l'humanité,
ont le pouvoir de censurer
tous ceux qui en disent trop.

Je refuse de sacrifier,
mes droits, ma raison et mes idées
pour ces gens qui se croient un peu trop.

Liberté!


come to think of it, I would like to learn to type the accents
in French too
 
Last edited:
Science news on Phys.org
  • #32
Marcus you can also dowload the song for this rhyme
http://www.lespistoletsroses.com/liberte.html

For keystroke it depends if you are using a PC or a MAC

For a PC the ALT+130 on your num. pad will give you the é. The letters go from 130 to 145. If you play around these number you will find them.

For a Mac, the best is the Key Caps program. Press the option (ALT) key and it show you were the "accents" are. For é, I press option+e then e again.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #33
iansmith said:
Marcus you can also dowload the song for this rhyme
http://www.lespistoletsroses.com/liberte.html
...
For a Mac, the best is the Key Caps program. Press the option (ALT) key and it show you were the "accents" are. For é, I press option+e then e again.

at the moment I happen to be at a Mac, so i will try what you say.


option u gives the umlaut for a,o,u-----ä, ö, ü
option o gives the ø
option a gives the å
option c gives the ç
option i gives the circumflex for i, o-----î, ô
option e gives the ac-acute for e----é
option grave gives the ac-grave for e, a----è, à
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #34
thanks,
now i am trying to download the MP3
for the song
 
  • #35
marcus said:
Yes, Olaus Roemer
and the shortened form of Olaus was Ole
so one sees it written Ole Roemer

my bet is that the pronouciation is just the Umlaut o
like in Goethe

I seem to remember seeing it as an o with a slash through it. Likewise Oersted, the discoverer of electromagnetism.
 
  • #36
Just a clarification:
Ø,ø are mostly used in Danish/Norwegian, whereas the Swedish use Ö, ö.

It is/was rather common for Danes to use "oe" instead of "ø", in particular in personal names, so "Ole Roemer, Oersted" are probably the forms they used.
 
  • #37
Columbus Day will be celebratet. Ay Ay captain! :smile:

(Couldent find a swiss exploration song... of course)
 
  • #38
marcus said:
BTW, two things
1. do you know any short easy songs about exploration and discovery?
(could be made up, or found)I can only think of "The Happy Wonderer". :frown:

2. do you know how that danish fellow measured the speed of light in 1675?
(it was remarkable, he came within about 10 percent of the nowadays figure)I just vaguely remember something about it. Please tell me about it!
 
  • #39
1. do you know any short easy songs about exploration and discovery?
(could be made up, or found)
I can only think of "The Happy Wonderer". :frown:

ARG

I love to go a wondering out on the mountain track
I love to go a wondering a backpack on my back
fol dar ee----fol dar oh---etc.

All right I suppose as a start. See what else you come up with.

------------
about Ole Roemer and the moon Io
it is really such a nice story that I want someone else to have the pleasure of telling it to you.
(are you sure you wouldn't like to tell the story yourself Evo?)
 
  • #40
DAH DAHHH!

this is the story of Ole and Io, and Evo is going to tell it to us!

remember that this is a great coming-of-age story for our civilization:
if you look out at the Milky way you see the homes of many people
who are living in civilizations at different levels of development and the
main landmark is: some have already measured the speed of light
and others haven't figured out to do that yet.

Once upon a time in Denmark there was a little boy named Ole who lived with his old father and his old mother in their cottage, and on a nice spring day he decided to go to Paris. So he took a bright red bandana and packed his pocket knife and piece of cheese and a change of socks and tied it up and threw it over his shoulder and set out on his way. His weeping mother said Ole be sure to measure the speed of light, and his father wiped a tear from his wrinkled cheek and said yes boy be sure you get it right within 10 percent, remember you are a Roemer. And Ole went off down the road to Paris.

now Evo it is your turn. (look in the Britannica if you don't remember)
 
  • #41
well Evo has declined to tell the next installment---I probably started the story wrong. But I still don't want to hog the mike, so if anyone else can tell how the first human to measure c did it please do. I like Ole Roemer almost as much as Columbus and if it was up to me I would date things BC and AR---- BC for Before C-was-measured and AR for After Roemer.

Ole is pronounced OOOleh (I know a norwegian Ole)

Ole and Io

Io goes around Jupiter once every 2 days or more exactly the synodic period is 1 day 18 hours and 29 minutes. Let's say 2549 minutes.

Ole could see Io hit the big planet's shadow and wink out, so he had a precise moment he could time.

Just suppose when Ole got to paris he found someone at the observatory who had counted Io orbits for 20 years so they knew how many minutes was in 20 years and they had counted how many times it had gone around so they could divide and say how many minutes each orbit takes, at least on average. Suppose they told Ole it was 2549. (seems reasonable)

Ole asked Mr Cassini the director of the observatory to give him a 24-hour clock and he took the clock to his room and used chewing gum and his nailfile to modify the clock so it went around once ever 2549 minutes.

then he set up his telescope and started watching the REAL clock, which was Io, and comparing it to the model, whose hands went around once ever 2549 minutes.

And he found that sometimes, for maybe 6 months or so, the real clock would gain---running imperceptibly faster until after 6 months or so it was just barely noticeably ahead

and then for about an equal periond it would lag, and run slower than the model clock, until it was back in synch again.

that is the end of this installment (it's a simplification, he never actually made the 2549 minute clock he just used ordinary clocks and arithmetic)
 
Last edited:
  • #42
marcus said:
now Evo it is your turn. (look in the Britannica if you don't remember)
Sorry, I've been swamped with work. :frown:
 
  • #43
Evo said:
Sorry, I've been swamped with work. :frown:

understand. I have a busy 4 days or so coming up myself.
hope you will take over telling a science story, at some point.
I will just go ahead and finish with Ole Roemer---it's almost done
I just have to make him calculate the speed of light from the amount
that the real Io clock gets ahead or behind the model clock.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
4K
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
5K
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
3K
  • · Replies 133 ·
5
Replies
133
Views
28K
Replies
14
Views
5K
Replies
6
Views
5K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
4K
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
6K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
3K