Indians predated Newton 'discovery' by 250 years

Interesting article. It's hard to prove who was the "first" to do anything. Just like Columbus was not the "first" to "discover" the Americas, it was what followed after his "disovery" tht is important.

The "discovery" of the math concept may have been the "first," but what followed from it?

The Greeks and the Egyptions made all sorts of discoveries in antiquity which were lost over the ages. I'm sure the ancestors of the Chinese did the same.

After all, who made the best use of the ancient discoveries?

Al

It wasn't Archimedes' fault that people took his descriptions of methods of integration (a precursor to modern intergral calculus), erased them and used the paper for prayer books.

Perhaps we should ask who did the most to interfere with ancient discoveries. Where would we be today if the development of these ideas hadn't been side-tracked by superstitions for 2000 years?

The Christians were more intolerant than the Taliban. We should perhaps remember that Christianity of today is not a new religion, it is the continuation of the religion that burns people at the stake.

When the Islamists were routed from Spain, suddenly a whole load of mathematics and science became available to the Christian world, accounting for such arabic words as "nadir" and "zenith" in our vocabulary. That science had been suppressed by the Christians.

However, I digress.

_ALL_ religiosity, without exception, is make-believe, and those adults who so indulge are mental defectives. It is not unusual for children to have imaginary friends. It comes as somewhat of a shock to find some adults still talking to their imaginary friend.

One could answer, that posting to usenet is like talking to an imaginary friend...

Er.... You.. Hmmm.. anyone out there?

;-)

-- Adrian C

You _COULD_ argue that if you didn't get a reply!

This will happen again. Superstitions will eventually cause the downfall of mobile telephone masts, cessation of sales of microwave ovens, mass poisoning due to untreated 'organic' food stuffs, failure to build more electrical generation plants, inability of countries to defend themselves against dangerous other countries etc...

This planet will only be green when mankind is annilated, and it seems _that_ is the ultimate aim of the 'superstitions' brigade. And no, I'm not talking religion.... No, it's something far worse.... ;-(

-- Adrian C

I didn't do much more than "glance" at the article.

BUT, it seems that this had do to with "infinite series."

I never associated Newton with "infinite series." Moreover, while "infinite series" and limits (which aren't the same) are studied in most Calc. courses, Calculus doesn't "depend" upon these series for most "practical" applications.

But, hey, if it makes some Indians happy, go for it!

Time spent talking to imaginary friends is time not available for learning or creativity.

Aside from that, some religions take different points of view on intellectual pursuits. Christianity starts off by banishing Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden for eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. A particularly telling fable in terms of Christianity's attitude toward learning, IMHO.

You're only a couple of thousand years behind in your sampling of the tree of knowledge, eh?

'You know who *' apparently doesn't know the 'Tower of Babel' was destroyed, and continues to babel.

• (Whatever 'its' screen name is this hour.)

All this anti-religious talk really warms my heart. If you have not seen it yet, make sure you catch "The Root of All Evil?" (two part series on BBC) by Richard Dawkins. Two parts on google video, just search for "root of all evil."

Nah, Paul may know nothing about history or religion be he is an engineer, unlike "you know who".

There's nothing wrong with religion itself. Just like there's nothing wrong with Star Trek. Its just that neither is a suitable basis for ones life philosophy. I mean, where would we be if we followed Kirk's example by traveling around the galaxy, nailing hot alien women?

On second thought, maybe Star Trek does have some valuable life lessons. ;-)

Actually the Eden myth was old testament. i.e. pre-Christian. That doesn't excuse stupidities and suppression made in the name (but not the essential basis)of Christianity because of ignorance and/or greed (Hey, I'm on top and I intend to stay there!).

By the way, I can't prove that God exists but it can't be proven that God doesn't exist. Some choose to believe and others not to believe. It is not a case of mental deficiency as claimed by anonymous. As to Arabic knowledge- this was considered and filtered into Europe long before the Moors were kicked out of Spain. The middle ages were not as benighted as has been claimed and the Renaissance stepped backward in many ways as the classical Greek and Roman knowledge was considered superior (it wasn't). Conservative nostalgia of the times.

Quote the whole verse, and correctly, please. It wasn't the tree of knowledge. Your error makes it sound like this verse encompasses ALL knowledge. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So, God wasn't against ALL knowledge just against the knowledge of Good and Evil. This verse could easily turn into a long theological debate, which would be far from the topic of this group, and a topic I don't wish to pursue. I just wanted to humbly correct the gross generalization your statement made about Christianity. God is not against obtaining knowledge at all. In fact, He encourages it--read the book of Proverbs sometime.

Again, I'm not trying to raise anyone's ire. Keep in mind, it wasn't me who turned this post into religious discussion. I just want to make sure that the facts are correct, as all engineers inherently want to do.

Best regards, Rob

There are no "facts" in make-believe.

How can an imaginary person be for or against anything?

OK, so its the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That still suggests that Christianity discourages any attempt to understand morality. The alternative being that morality will be dictated to the believers by the high priests. Same principle as totalitarian governments. We tell you what to do and then you do it, no questions asked.

Unfortunately there is a great deal of truth to what you say. However, it is not Christianity that discourages progress but the people who have a vested interest in their position and perks (and ignorance). That is not Christianity even though it parades under the name of Christianity (or Marxism or Mammon- take your pick). Anyhow this ends my participation on this issue in a technically oriented forum- I don't want to fight with locked in viewpoints on either side. --

D>>

Au contraire.

Christianity is a make-believe fiction in the minds of all those who profess it.

There's no fight in dispelling arrant nonsense.