Has history ever happened?

[Leesin]

I had a shit yesterday and I can prove it, look on your mothers chest.

[The_Bloody_Nine]

To ask if history itself can be proved is retarded.

To ask if history itself can be proved is the most important thing to do when you are an historian. I makes you understand how history and 'facts' work.

My definition: We have to take certain events of history into account as facts, as proved, because else we won't get anywhere and can't say anything (about history). But at the same time, we have to be aware the we ourselves create these facts the second we write them down or speak about them. There is no history without interpretation.

[Armpit_Sweat]

This thread went full retard few pages ago... What a nasty mess! Burn everything here with napalm please

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[zagibu]

It's a complex question. I'm not even sure the present is happening. Then you bring time into the mix, which is another big mystery.

[Micah]

It's a complex question. I'm not even sure the present is happening. Then you bring time into the mix, which is another big mystery.

question is not if history ever happened imho .. something did happen for sure ( cant really deny existance of a timeline ) , but it gets harder to recover its information proportional to past time. History from schoolbooks should never been taken for certain, its more like "as far as we can recover from our sources". That also makes history so fascinating, because you have to "read between the lines".

(click to show/hide)

kinda funny how Armpit_Sweat (apearantly) wanted to anihilate  the thread, and revived it instead 

[Overdriven]

Well I was watching a show about Mesolithic man in Britain and how a recent find a couple of years ago completely changed the way they viewed them. They previously thought they were nomadic and didn't live in permanent settlements. But a recent find at Star Carr in Yorkshire uncovered the site of a house, and then the site of a landing type platform for boats at the edge of a lake. It pretty much changed the way mesolithic man was viewed because they showed that the house had been lived in for a 200-500 year period. Pretty insane thinking that a house like that was lived in for that long.

The settlement was wiped out by a Tsunami created by the Storegga Slide though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Carr

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doggerland

Pretty much goes to show that even when we think we know stuff in history, an important find can completely shift that view.

[51L3NC3R]

Wikipedia.org/wiki/Dating_methodology_in_archaeology
There are a variety of ways to prove history. People have tried radiocarbon dating(for organic compounds) and numismatic (dated coins from the era)

[Umbra]

Nothing outside my mind is real, you are all my elaborate imagination

[Armpit_Sweat]

Nothing outside my mind is real, you are all my elaborate imagination

... my thoughts back when i was 6, and my stepdad walked in my room late at night, to make sure i took a shower.

[Lannistark]

I understand Rantrex's frustration. He probably believes people who have written their history books won their battles by cheating.

This is a just cause I support.

[Lt_Anders]

Anyone that relies on pure carbon dating for history is a fucking idiot. A good history record is one that is taken from mutliple (even if conflicting) sources.

I'm against carbon dating for anything beyond written records. Why? It uses the following assumption that can NEVER be proven: The way things are now, is the way things were then. We, under no circumstances can prove that without two more other records.

Mathmatically, carbon dating is accurate, but this math is based on an assumption that we should very, very carefully use. While it's been proven for all things presently(within 2000-6000 years ago) we have no way to really verify beyond that. Sure we can use Ice records and other things, but therein, we are still using the same assumption.
1 trillions years ago process = today's process.

Keep an open mind about carbon dating, and in general, age dating. Trust, but verify.

BTW, didn't read topic and felt like saying that.

[Malaclypse]

Why did history begin when it did and not before or after? Is history a self-limiting engine? Will we move beyond the need for history?

[Armpit_Sweat]

Why did history begin when it did and not before or after? Is history a self-limiting engine? Will we move beyond the need for history?

According to this book:
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man
 
The historical process ends with liberal democracy, so there is only economical and technological development afterwards. It might look like an intimidating book, but it is actually very easy to read. Fukuyama mostly quotes other authors, and makes some theoretical assumptions regarding future political development.
Nothing shocking or groundbreaking there, and, in my opinion, is worth the reading for someone like me, who is interested in this subject, but finds the sources too heavy to read. 

[CrazyCracka420]

Why did history begin when it did and not before or after? Is history a self-limiting engine? Will we move beyond the need for history?

Hahaha reminds me of this lyric from a Wu Tang song (fam members only):

Great minds think alike
We used to drink all night
Think about things thats wrong and how to make it right
Ice cold bottles of brass, time flashes
A hundred blunts passes
Before the God asked us
What's the square miles of the planet?
Why is the axis slanted?
How much is covered by water?
How much is granite?

[Adamar]

According to this book:
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man
 
The historical process ends with liberal democracy, so there is only economical and technological development afterwards. It might look like an intimidating book, but it is actually very easy to read. Fukuyama mostly quotes other authors, and makes some theoretical assumptions regarding future political development.
Nothing shocking or groundbreaking there, and, in my opinion, is worth the reading for someone like me, who is interested in this subject, but finds the sources too heavy to read.

Scientific development has a way of changing the rules. Unless people actually stop living by their instincts, there will be the possibility for friction.