Christian_Szegedy comments on Undiscriminating Skepticism - Less Wrong

97 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 14 March 2010 11:23PM

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Comment author: JulianMorrison 17 March 2010 04:22:53PM 2 points [-]

OK, now here's one that might be interesting. Is there a gap, or is the date a lie?

Comment author: Christian_Szegedy 28 May 2010 03:18:22AM *  6 points [-]

This is quite an old "thesis" by Illig originally stemming from a very simple arithmetic misunderstanding. (No: Pope Gregory aligned his calendar to match eastern date as at the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325, not with the original beginning of the Julian calendar)

There is no need for radiocarbon dating to refute it, since a lot of evidence could easily pinpoint it as a crackpot theory, especially:

  • Comparison with historical recordings of oriental (esp. Chinese) civilizations.
  • Synchronization by well known astronomical events, like Halley comet, eclipses, etc