found a video link
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i mean it took until the 1800s until the word genetics was coined and a theory developed, but sure. why not
this too seems impossible to me. first, that there was or ever has been a uniquely defined collection of thought called european. second, that it and the population of europeans was isolated and unique from all adjacent areas and history. and lastly, that exclusively european groups “evolved” their own thoughts separate from collective humanity once they had seen more of the world
none of that passes the smell test as the way things work or worked.
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Does “topics involving ancient engineering know-how” need to go on the list ?
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And yet, White supremacy still ended up dominating all those other ‘theories…’
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Most of the Roman Empire was ruled by people who didn’t inherit their title. Very few Caesars died of old age. Outside of the initial Julio-Claudian dynasty few passed down their tile to their children.
The Mongol Empire, the largest land empire in existence, was by its nature culturally and religiously polyglot. They also elected their leaders
Greeks invented the concept of Democracy. Romans were a Republic for half of their existence.
All of your examples (Greeks, Romans, Aztecs…) did not constitute single cohesive civilizations. Europeans do not constitute a single cohesive civilization.
Your use of “European” here smacks of white supremacist bullshit by way of word replacement. Pretending there was a single group involved and trying to take credit/ownership/affiliation with it on a shaky superficial basis.
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Today I am even more boggled than usual. Never mind the achievements of modern humans or even Neanderthals. It looks like Homo Erectus had their own Einsteins and Magellans.
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How many pedant points does it cost to object that Homo erectus were human by definition?
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You don’t need points to be a pedant, just a certain approach to life. 
I’m just the messenger, but okay, let’s say boats predate modern humans.
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The brains of people 30KYA were the same as the brain in my skull right now. There’s no reason to believe they weren’t capable of building these complex structures. Humans can be smart and excellent problem solvers. Don’t project the idiocy of today on the people of yesteryear.
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Hmmmm… maybe read a history book and stop reflexively defending “western civilization” by alluding to “other people did it”… we’re not living with the consequences of that in the same way that we are of European imperialism and racism, which is a very modern invention. There were certainly other forms of inequality, hierarchy, and bigotry, but what we think of as “race” as was developed to justify genocide and chattel slavery, is a modern invention.
It’s actually not. It’s the argument they make, and they connect the dots for the reader in a pretty convincing way.
No they weren’t? What do you think the Crusades were? Or for that matter, how about the vast amount of trade done by the Norse during the viking age, including down into the Mediterranean. Europe was a backwater, and not generally considered important, but it was never entirely isolated from the rest of Afro-Eur-Asia…
It does.
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i think you might be misreading what i wrote. i agree with your statement.
the former person’s post said that - essentially - europe was entirely isolated, that their “thought” was entirely their own, they took in what others had done and made it unique.
as someone else said better, it sounds like a white supremacy argument in a “culture” guise. especially as they started off talking about “genetics”
as you say, no part of what is modern europe was ever truly disconnected in the exchange of goods, ideas, and people
( especially with rome, i’d think. “roman” seems likely to have been a more likely self-conception than “european” for quite a long time. and roman boundaries don’t match european ones )
post enlightenment sometime a line was drawn around western europe that said: hey we’ve always been unique and special and all this cultural heritage is ours alone. that was never really true
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Wasn’t there a whole George Carlin bit about how all the great things accomplished by civilizations were performed on the principle of not giving a crap about people? I can’t seem to find it.
(It might not be entirely accurate in view of modern evidence that the pyramids might not have been built by slaves, but nonetheless.)
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I think I did! Sorry!
Exactly.
Yeah.
True!
But we are indeed in violent agreement… sorry if I misread you!
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