• hendrik@palaver.p3x.de
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    21 hours ago

    Possible. But then we’d need somebody else to develop calculus and write a Principia Mathematica and lay the groundworks for the age of enlightenment.

    • loaExMachina
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      13 hours ago

      A lot of what Newton used in Principia was already more or less in the air, it was just a matter of someone picking up the pieces and seeing the big pictures. It couldn’t have been more than a few decades at most until someone found out if it hadn’t been Newton.

      • hendrik@palaver.p3x.de
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        8 hours ago

        Heheh, valid objection. Guess Newton wasn’t the only smart person in history 😆 And drama has always been part of human history… But we still hear those names over 300 years later. Along with a lot of other names of people whose results are taught in university today. But yeah, that hypothetical situation (Newton’s achievements in mathematics being replaced by Leibnitz) would make a good Dr. Who episode.