Stupid Pyramids

[Fake Messiah]

The Pharaohs wanted their grave goods protected, so they could use them in the afterlife.  So what did they do?  The buried them under mountains of stone that any grave robber could see from literally miles away

Sure, but you must understand that pharaohs considered themselves to be gods and they wanted to show to the people who was the boss and what better way than building giant buildings.
So did other religions follow, like christianity with it's large cathedrals which were the largest buildings in christendom until quite recent times.

What was really stupid about building these giant buildings was the blind faith in these stories meant that human efforts frequently focused on increasing the glory of fictional entities such as gods and nations, instead of bettering the lives of real sentient beings.

[Huggy Bear]

Uhem.   Scatter is the opposite of focus.

Got any more sciency woo?

less bible, more science education, makes you not only less likely to fall for the jesus salvation con, but also less likely to fall for very crude pseudoscience bullshit like this.

Sciency woo? That was a peer reviewed article you big dummy...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of...ed_Physics

The Journal of Applied Physics is a peer-reviewed scientific journal with a focus on the physics of modern technology.

[Anomalocaris]

The speed of propagation of all electromagnetic waves change when they pass through any medium, so they always refract and scatter to various degrees as they encounter any transition between different mediums, be those medium air, granite, lime stone, whatever.    They will refract and scatter and when they go from outside air through the surface of the pyramid, they will scatter and refract when they go from one stone to another, from one type of stone to another.   they will refract and scatter differently if the stones are touching, than if there is any substantial air gap.   Depending on the geometry of surface of the material they go through, they will sometimes crudely appear to focus, just as a droplet of water can focus sun light.


So the article in effect said "things happen to electromagnetic waves when they go through pyramid, isn't that neat".    I am sure no competent reviewer will venture to disagree with the assertion that "things happen to electromagnetic waves when they go through pyramids".    "Isn't it neat" doesn't warrant a review.  Hence it passed peer review.


But you know, "things happen to electromagnetic waves when they go through any thing, isn't that neat".    Things that happen to electromagnetic waves when they go through pyramid aren't in principle different from what happens to them when they go through the Parthenon, the Taj mahal,  Mt Rushmore, the great Zimbabwe, or the pile of talus and scree at the bottom of any eroded remains of any natural rock outcropping.


The woo part comes not from ""things happen to electromagnetic waves when they go through pyramid".   It comes from the unwritten (therefore unreviewable) implication of "PYRAMID! PYRAMID! PYRAMID!", when it could have been "anything, anything, anything".

[ignoramus]

Because the ancient Egyptians were so well versed in electromagnetism!
No wonder they believed they were gods!

[Shell B]

I mean, not to mention the fact that construction was hardly unnoticed.

Didn't they really think they were pretty powerful/holy and that gods could smite the shit out of people who crossed them? I assume they thought this would be enough deterrent. No idea why.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The pyramids were propaganda tools. Once they built one that was patently untoppable they quit doing it. The Maya had a better idea, they built their pyramids on top of previous pyramids. Much less work that way. Fortuitously this also preserved the earlier models.

[Anomalocaris]

The pyramids were propaganda tools. Once they built one that was patently untoppable  they quit doing it. The Maya had a better idea, they built their pyramids on top of previous pyramids. Much less work that way. Fortuitously this also preserved the earlier models.

The Egyptians also started by building their pyramids on top of previous structures.   The first major step pyramid was in fact a mastaba built on top of another mastaba, built on top of yet more mastabas, and then the whole thing was made bigger by building the existing pile of mastabas out sideways until you get a stepped pyramid. 

The second major pyramid was an attempt to build on true pyramid on top of a existing stepped pyramid.   It didn't work out well at all.     That's when they decided each pyramid has to be a carefully planned structure designed from the start to fit with its intended final size and shape.   The size and steepness of the old kingdom pyramids made them structurally much more demanding than MesoAmerican pyramids or other ancient megalithic structures.

[SenseMaker007]

Religion makes people do stupid things. Including gigantic pyramids.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Another curious fact about ancient Egypt:

The Nile floods once per year, leaving a rich alleuvial deposit in its wake.  Once the flood waters recede, the land of Egypt is covered, as far as the eye can see, with Egyptologists.

Boru

[ignoramus]

Seriously though, is it true that the ancient Egyptian mummies inspired wrap music