SpaceSimCentral

Posted by: @cody

Somewhere near the northern shore of the Caspian Sea, say 500 BCE or thereabouts.

Ok, I got that, but would you engage with your surroundings, influence them even, or be a passive observer, watching how things unfolded?

Posted by: @geraldine
would you engage with your surroundings, influence them even, or be a passive observer, watching how things unfolded?

The temptation to "engage" would probably be irresistible, and possibly necessary in order to survive.

@cody
I agree since back then many fledgling societies were prone at times to take extreme, and what might be regarded as barbaric, actions. The world has always been a place where danger can lurk, even today, but back in those days it could especially be up close and personal as, although the stakes were smaller by today's standards, they were also much more localised and immediate in their effects. The ancient world was a place you always had to be on your guard or, in other words, just like King Herod said there in that video clip.

For Pinback, Gaius, and myself, all back there in the mists of time, this comes to mind:

There's a flying saucer on the album cover art, so back on topic - kinda!

Posted by: @geraldine
The ancient world was a place you always had to be on your guard or, in other words, just like King Herod said there in that video clip.

I think that's the reason they had so many gods as you never knew what was going to happen.

Posted by: @geraldine
Gaius, on you preserving your Odyssey for posterity, let me give you a bit of advice that comes from an unlikely source..

I Claudius...Omg, I watched that series multiple times, truly outstanding! Advice well received... 

Posted by: @pinback Posted by: @geraldine
The ancient world was a place you always had to be on your guard or, in other words, just like King Herod said there in that video clip.

I think that's the reason they had so many gods as you never knew what was going to happen.

Are we that much different today tho Pinback? We might not fill our own personal pantheons with gods as the ancients did but can we truly say we haven't replaced them with "neon gods" instead? Those of social media, of sport, of politics and so on we see on our screens?

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone...

Posted by: @geraldine

Are we that much different today tho Pinback? We might not fill our own personal pantheons with gods as the ancients did but can we truly say we haven't replaced them with "neon gods" instead? Those of social media, of sport, of politics and so on we see on our screens?


Yes I do think that we are different from our ancestors in that we have a better understanding of our environment today, in the past if some one walked out of their house and was hit by lightning, then surly it was a sign from the gods that they were displeased. We know today not to stand under trees in lightning storms.

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made...
Well @geraldine your thread has now completely gone off on a tangent. 
@cody I'm changing my destination... summer of 1984.
When the Simon & Garfunkel references started, I thought to myself that younger members may think "man these old guys listened to weird music"
Which led to ... (prepare to see my insanity) the summer of 1984
I was just about 20, with an 18 year old bride that I had no business being with, neither of us did bless her heart, we married on a whim and took a while to end it. So One summer day we are at her friends house... I was in love with that friend but would never act on it (even after my bride and I ended our child-like marriage). As we were all frolicking in the pool, her father, a retired NY cop was sitting and listening to his radio when the inevitable "you kids today listen to that crazy stuff, this is real music...humph, I bet none of you know the name of this song"
Winchester Cathedral? I replied.
He looked at me flabbergasted, while his daughter, (my secret love), looked at me with a sense of awe. (don't ask how I knew, suffice it to say any other tune playing, from that time frame and style, would have baffled me). 
Anyway, she is the one that got away, so I'll take a ticket back to that point in time, have a good talking to with my 20 year old self... (say, can two of me exist at the same time...), and "laissez le bon temps rouler"
P.S.
Of course, not to waste an opportunity, some select investments and bets on each years Superbowl would mean I would have enough bucks to conduct my own archaeological digs now. A nice bonus that.

Posted by: @gaius-konstantine
Winchester Cathedral

Oh man, that takes me back! I'd just discovered girls...

Chasing skinny blue-jeaned girls across the building site
<wanders away, whistling>