A volcano erupt. Now imagine for a second that they know nothing about Science or how volcanos really function. You are watching a mountain Spew fire and smoke, and they are witnessing a violent destructive force. Now what do you think the earliest humans attributed this act of nature to? How would they explain what they saw to others? Really think about this one. I want serious answers.
2007-06-20 01:56:12 · 26 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Wow, I get your point? It would create the idea of agree Gods.
2007-06-20 02:00:36 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
If they had seen it before, they would attribute it to other natural disasters of the Earth which cause havoc. They would not need science to tell them that, just experience.
How many people on R&S actually know what dynamics are behind an eruption? I'm sure the same was true back then. However when they saw it for the first time, they must have been too scared to think anything and if another eruption did not follow soon, there would be legends about it which exaggerated what actually happened.
2007-06-20 09:02:27 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
well, there's a number of pathways one could take to address this question. the obvious one would be to relegate it to superstition, paganism, mindset, etc. this is where the old fashioned historical writing and teaching fails us completely. in other words people are often stereotyped and everyone was thrown into the same box of thinking. this is a fallacy. i think the human race always had people who could or tried to think outside the norm, just like today. if all the previous generation had not been that way inclined, we would still be living in caves. not such a bad idea, me thinks. it also brings to mind the widely held believe that "everybody" perceived the earth as being flat. now, i don't know if you've ever been in some sort of "0utback" with no pollution, a full moon and clear night. as the moon creeps above the horizon it looks like a body, a sphere, a 3 dimensional image. the moon does not look like a disc. did people make some sort of connection with the earth because of that? who knows, but it wouldn't surprise me. it's one of those puzzles without much chance of an answer. a time machine would be nice... and finally, don't underestimate the people of the past, cheers mate
2007-06-20 09:45:12 · answer #3 · answered by bram 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
From the tone of your question, and the answers I've read so far, I can't see the diference between a stone-age reaction, and that of modern man. Naive people think that mathematics, and modern appliances elevate us above the authors of epic stories. Consider the awe, inspired by the first mushroom cloud, what would you attribute this act of man to? Man's genius? Or perhaps it demonstrates man's very real need for an intervention by someone even more awe-inspiring...
But then again, I am still amazed at the way soap bubbles drift on a gentle breeze, spectral orbs of pure delight...
2007-06-20 09:24:32 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
How do you imagine deities came about? When we do not have the understanding or vocabulary to express, we tend to resort to fear...it is a survival instinct. And just as today, there are those who see an event as opportunity, and those that see the same event as a horror. The ones who see opportunity take the event and empower themselves by giving their understanding of the situation to those who see horror...thereby appeasing those masses with the control factor provided them.
Sooo, we have the one, or few, who see the volcano as a part of nature, but with the opportunity to say "The Gods are angered by ..." and the masses who believe this explanation and thus "follow" the one or few, who surely must have greater knowledge & communication ability with such Gods, or devils, or whatever...Ergo, the inception of Power mongering!!! LOL
2007-06-20 09:14:30 · answer #5 · answered by MsET 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The earliest humans were not knuckle-dragging morons. The earliest humans developed the wheel, metal,music,art, writing.
Then they built structures we cant copy today.
We are only building on their discoveries.
The earliest humans were geniuses beyond compare. The first man to walk this planet named all the animals, he had the mind of a computer. He could read the sun, the moon, and the stars and plant accordingly.
It was only after a planet-wide catastrophe that almost wiped out the human race that caused us to lose most of our culture and technology.
We are nothing compared to ancient man. we have lost so much, and will probably never get it back.
Our own arrogance in assuming they were primitive is proof.
2007-06-20 09:13:55 · answer #6 · answered by fortheimperium2003 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
well the earliest humans knew nothing about anything.so every time they came across something different they would call 911.they would really bug those guys.naw just jokeing,it had to be strange seeing everything for the first time.what i would like to know is how everything got its name,like volcano,mountain,nature,who named everything and where did they get the words,and were cave men here befor adam and eve?sorry my answer became a question.ill stop now.good question.
2007-06-20 09:11:33 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sometimes I think this is where the idea of hell comes from (well, the earlier Greek idea of Hades which the Christian concept of hell evolves from – Jews don’t have the same concept of hell that Christians do). It also seems to take on the attributes of anger. I don’t think that they were always just trying to come up with ways to explain natural events when they thought up myths, but were looking to symbolize the world and their emotions…A volcano – An angry god….
2007-06-20 09:02:06 · answer #8 · answered by A 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
This is where the idea of hell came from. People had no concept of the structure of the earth. They thought they lived on a flat plain a few hundred miles across, if they thought about it at all. Above the land was a ceiling called "sky" and above the sky was heaven. Below the earth was hell where devils and demons lived who caused earthquakes and volcanoes.
2007-06-20 09:03:05 · answer #9 · answered by Sandy G 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Humans throughout history have often attributed things that were at the time unexplainable to some deity.
My guess, though, is that the "earliest" humans reasoning skills were some sort of rough cause/effect correlation, like "This is hot, I need to get the hell out of here."
They probably didn't have the time to contemplate the "why".
2007-06-20 09:05:03 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Firstly what are the parameters that define "early..?
5000 years ago?
50,000 years ago?
500,000 years ago?
5 million years ago?
Probably the same as you and I would do, and that is NOT sit about and try to be clever, but get the heck out of there in a hurry..
I think ALL animals have an innate sense of what is dangerous, and they would've been fleeing amongst all sorts of animal company, the same as would happen today no doubt..
I wonder what your point is..?
2007-06-20 09:09:22 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋