[sharikous]

> The article shows that our predecessors were as perceptive as we are, they understood a lot more than we realize

Who's we? Apart from distributed knowledge in scientific/geographic topics and technological tools who thinks that our generation is somehow more evolved? People have had a perfectly fine intelligence and a good insight for a very long time. And arguably in some topics like psychology, power dynamics or the search for pleasure nothing important has changed for thousands of years

[nemo44x]

It’s in part a philosophical question as well. In part because in the West we have a strong Protestant history we are tied to the myth of bettering through time. This has been expressed starkly by “providence” which eventually minimized (and then abandoned) the Christian aspect and turned into “progress”. This is our defining narrative myth today.

I suspect because the advancements in technology have been so distinct that we’ve generalized into everything. It’s all about getting positive recognition from future people because the people of the past embarrass us. This is why people don’t generally ask “what would the people of yesterday say about us people of today?”. Especially interesting since we owe a gratitude to them.

[theobromananda]

That is sadly common perception (IMHE). Just look at the use of the "cave man" as an illustration of dumbness.