[ExI] Things I have (sort of) changed my mind on (1): The supernatural

[Stuart LaForge]

Giulio Prisco wrote:

> Reading my old writings I realize that I have (sort of) changed my
> mind on some all important concepts. One is the concept of
> ?supernatural.?...
>
>
> https://turingchurch.net/things-i-have-sort-of-changed-my-mind-on-1-the-s
> upernatural-f029d49385e9

You might be splitting hairs there, Giulio, but its you who claim your
mind is changed so who am I to judge?

I do kind of think you underestimate your Roman forbears however.

Yes, you and your smartphone might have convinced some backwoods Roman
plebe that you were some kind of sorcerer but an educated Roman like a
philosopher or a senator? Highly doubtful.

Educated Romans were no more superstitious than you or I. Case in point,
this quote from Seneca the Younger c.a. 50 AD:

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false,
and by rulers as useful"

Moreover, the Romans (before christianity) were the greatest technophiles
of their time. Look at all this stuff came up with or appropriated:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_technology

When they came across military tech that they didn't understand like Greek
fire or Carthaginian war ships, they did not call it magic and run away in
fear. They found a way to procure it and reverse engineer it, often
improving it in the process, and then used it on the next poor slobs that
got in the way of their conquest.

They invented concrete so strong that a lot of what they built is still
around today. And when Rome fell, the secret of concrete was forgotten and
not rediscovered for a THOUSAND years.

And for all our technological savvy, we still don't know what the Romans
used these things for and I assure you it wasn't paper weights:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedron

So for your hypothetical time-travel scenario, I propose you would have
been promptly subdued by legionaries and you and your smartphone taken
promptly to Caesar. Caesar would have been intrigued by your smartphone
and would have plied you with wine and your choice of slave-girls or
catamites for the secret of its operation. If that didn't work, he might
have threatened you with torture until you told his smartest engineers how
it worked.

Because that's how the Romans rolled.

Stuart LaForge