[–] 4 points 7 hours ago (1 child)

transfer his consciousness to one of these kids

On the plus side, it wouldn't really be his consciousness so he would be dead. On the negative side, it would be a consciousness exactly like his so it would still be a problem for the other seven billion people on the planet.

  • source
  • parent
  • context
  • [–] 18 points 17 hours ago

    I mean, before the advent of GPS, ships at sea got a "fix" of their position by taking two measurements: north/south latitude (via a sextant when the sun was visible) and east/west longitude (via a set of very accurate clocks that showed the time in Greenwich England, which could be easily compared to the time aboard ship). Mercator maps are just a grid showing where all the land is as a function of these two measurements on the X and Y axes. Any other projection would have just meant a lot more work figuring out where shit was, which is why Mercator became "the" map. It had absolutely nothing to do with any attempt to make Europe appear dominant -- Europe's dominance when these maps came into existence was too obvious and unquestioned to need any parlor tricks.

  • source
  • parent
  • context
  • view more: next ›