Babylon 5 and Ancient History

[Yukaphile]

I think SF Debris's main complaint is that it's overused in Trek, while I haven't encountered that much during my journey through B5 to date (I'm on "Spider in the Web").

[Actarus]

The current view of History has been shaped by Christianity. For Christians, the birth of Christ or his resurrection has always been seen as the end of a world and the begining of a new; an Ancient Testament and a New Testament. That his why all the events before the advent of Christianity and the fall of Rome are packed together in "Antiquity", while different periods are recognized afterwards. People living in 8th century Europe would consider Attila the Hun ancient history even if it happened about three centuries before.

Now, the creation of a united world and the first contact with aliens would cause such a transformation that it could be seen as the end of a world and the birth of a new one. The era before would be seen as "ancient" not because it is old, but because it is over. Wars between nations would be seen as antique or at least antiquated in a world living under a single government.

Come to think of it, it is surprising that they still use the gregorian calendar in ST and B5...

[animalia]

The industrial Revolution was arguably a world shaping event on par or likely above the fall of the Roman Empire but nobody ever talks about the world before hand as ancient.

[Yukaphile]

Having now finished three seasons, yeah, it doesn't crop up much. It's similar to how I might call something from 500 years ago "ancient." Something from 1945 compared to 2259 would be similar.

[Beastro]

This issue has more to do with Modernist snobbery than anything to do with actual ancient history to passage of time, even if the snobbery is expressing what people think those in a couple centuries might snobbishly think.

It's not like Sci-Fi has a tendency towards channeling people down that direction....

https://youtu.be/XhvDMhrws1o?t=28

The industrial Revolution was arguably a world shaping event on par or likely above the fall of the Roman Empire but nobody ever talks about the world before hand as ancient.

I've come to thinkin time WWI will mark the end of the Modern Era in people's minds in the way I doubt too many were focused and occupied with events at hand to pause and point out the significance of Rome's fall.

[User 2632]

If I lived in a world with aliens and space travel, I'd probably call any period of history before that, "ancient". That period of Human history would be like another Universe.

[Riedquat]

I've come to thinkin time WWI will mark the end of the Modern Era in people's minds in the way I doubt too many were focused and occupied with events at hand to pause and point out the significance of Rome's fall.

WWI definitely seems to be a dividing line, in many ways it looks more like the last 19th century war than 20th century, even if the moving on of technology made it so much more horrific.

[Riedquat]

If I lived in a world with aliens and space travel, I'd probably call any period of history before that, "ancient". That period of Human history would be like another Universe.

To most people, certainly in the western world, life before the 20th century would be so different. It's not quite the same as aliens but being able to travel almost anywhere else on the planet with relative ease is a massive change - just think how alien the other side of the world must've seemed before that, let alone from the time when people didn't even know what was on the other side of the world. Star Trek is quite a good analogy for the strange, distant lands ships encountered in old stories.

When you live in something it's the norm, so doesn't seem strange, and you're brought up with some idea of history and you can see it from the benefit of hindsight. It's looking ahead and imagining it that makes the idea seem like another universe.

[Beastro]

I've come to thinkin time WWI will mark the end of the Modern Era in people's minds in the way I doubt too many were focused and occupied with events at hand to pause and point out the significance of Rome's fall.

WWI definitely seems to be a dividing line, in many ways it looks more like the last 19th century war than 20th century, even if the moving on of technology made it so much more horrific.

People like to focus on the tech. What they forget is the sheer scale that had changed war. Even the last wars Europe had fought had more in common with Napoleonic warfare than what WWI ushered in.

A thread months back on another board I post on had that come up and someone posted this pic.

If I lived in a world with aliens and space travel, I'd probably call any period of history before that, "ancient". That period of Human history would be like another Universe.

We live in a world with a good analogue to all that given what's changed, and yet we do not lump in the Middle Ages with Antiquity.

If we ever get becoming a Sci-Fi TV series world, then the most we'd do would be lumping in the Modern Era with the Middle Ages rather than throwing the whole lot into Antiquity.

[Madner Kami]

A thread months back on another board I post on had that come up and someone posted this pic.

I know what information I can get from that collage, but you may want to elaborate on what can be seen there.