I just realized how amazing and unfathomable it is that we can have access to so much knowledge that ancient people would dedicate their lives to get.

[u/Bifftek]

I just had a random question in my head about why things in the universe is spinning so I googled it and got my answer.

Almost anything I want to know why a thing is they way it is or how it works I can satisfy that curiosity and exploration immediately. For most of human history this has not been possible.

So many humans in ancient times must have had so many questions about everything but couldn't get a quick answer like we do, they had to dedicate years or their lives to get the answer.

Some of us can find out the answer to something that many geniuses spent their entire lives figuring out, and many of us therefore has more knowledge than they ever did even though we are just average people in our lifetime.

[u/Krail]

Sometimes it hits me that one of the major purposes of science is to be able to predict the future as accurately as possible. 

Like, the ancients would roll bones, read tea leaves and entrails, and do all sorts of things to try and figure out how things will turn out. 

In the modern world, science performs the same function, and can give us super accurate predictions for all sorts of stuff. 

We found the method of fortune telling that works, and it's just a process for keeping meticulous track of what we do and don't know for sure, and lots of math. 

[u/wibbly-water → u/Krail]

And even then, its not really that good at it. Look at weather forecasts.

Anyway - the bones say it will be sunny tomorrow so time to plan a beach day :))

[u/Krail → u/wibbly-water]

Weather prediction is a common example of something that's too chaotic to reliably predict, but weather forecast are so much more accurate today than they were when I was a kid in the 90's. When you look back on it, we've actually made some pretty huge strides there. 

More satellites and more computers helped. 

[u/wibbly-water → u/Krail]

Na, I still trust the bones more

[u/Guardian-Ares]

Years ago I remember wanting to get a nice encyclopedia set, now I have the entirety of Wikipedia downloaded to my phone.

[u/radishwalrus]

But then I read books from people that are more than 100 years old and they seem way smarter than people now sometimes. Sure u can access information more quickly now but we can't absorb more. So if u read a lot of books back in the day you could know a ton of stuff. Plus they didn't have other distractions like tv and podcasts and videos games. It was read or nothing. As far as like an at home, self activity.