A funny thing happened on the way to the Quora today.
I came across a funny question that somehow brought these things together. The Question:
If humans disappear, and the only thing that survives is a Harry Potter book, would a species discovering it believe that it’s actual history?
You can read the question and answer here on Quora.
https://www.quora.com/If-humans-disappear-and-the-only-thing-that-survives-is-a-Harry-Potter-book-would-a-species-discovering-it-believe-that-its-actual-history
Now you may be asking, “What the hell is Quora and why on earth are they talking about this?” If you are unfamiliar with Quora, I will let you know that it is a wonderful Timesuck.
Quora is a social network allows people to pose questions about different subjects and encourage answers and discussion. You choose the subjects you see and jump in if you have an interest in the question.
For bloggers and other online marketers, it is an amazing little piece of social media. It allows you to answer questions and promote yourself as the “expert” in a certain esoteric field. Preferably its a field that might be interested in what you have to say (or sell).
When I started on Quora (last spring at some point), my interests were astrology, prepping and gardening. By connecting with these communities, I could see what others were talking about. And then write articles on these subjects. That way, I could come back and link the articles as another form of social proof in answering a question.
Early on, I decided to opt out of the Astrology discussions. I found that most of the questions were about Horoscope astrology. It took a lot of time to sift through it and I had no interest in most of it.
Now What about Harry Potter and Zombies?
So with the question I noted above, a couple of my favorite subjects came together. I follow the harry Potter discussion group. That started last May when I began reading the Harry Potter books again. This has become an annual thing – usually at the beginning of the summer. And as I am finding, the other followers of this group are way dorkier than myself – as if that was possible.
But as the question goes, it is like a Dead Sea Scrolls kind of find. What would this piece of pop fiction say to an extra terrestrial or our 2000 year ancestors in the future. Now forget for a moment the Harry Potter part of this equation. Chane the conditions of this story and make it about the Zombie Apocalypse.
Call it a Noah’s Ark flood. Another example is the movie 2012, where the crust of the Earth displaces and everyone dies. Author Graham Hancock talks about this in his books Fingerprints of the Gods and Magicians of the Gods. Mr. Hancock suggests that the timing the the Flood of Noah may be provable in the archeological record.
And if you consider that civilized society could have existed (think Atlantis), and a flood covered the Earth, who would be left?
Imagine now if the Earth were to be hit by an asteroid, causing a catastrophic flood. Or a Volcano. Or a nuclear war. Would EVERYTHING be incinerated? Would there be survivors? What would happen to them with all the trappings of life taken from them? No libraries. No internet. Food Shelter Clothing gone. Society gone. It would be full on survival mode. The strongest, the bravest, the smartest survive.
It is against that backdrop that you consider how they might see that Harry Potter novel. Ignore that they would have to figure out the language (remember how long it took history to remember how to read Hieroglyphics). Place it against the backdrop of a new reality. How would they see it?
Long ago, I read a short story of ETs arriving here long after humans became extinct. The only artifact they found of our civilization was a reel of a Donald Duck cartoon. After watching that, they concluded that it’s no wonder there’s nobody left
Forget about destroying a species. You only have to destroy a written language to re-write history as you desire. If you watch this video, the narrator speaks of all books being destroyed in China at least 3 or 4 times in the past, followed by a new written language being forced upon the people. OK, you may have the existing population knowing that the new history is rubbish but after that cohort dies off, in a couple of generations or more, the people will accept the modified history because there will be no-one alive who will remember what truly happened.
You can skip the first 14 mins if you wish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtS1lj8n-uA
They did the same thing in Cambodia, according to another video in that series.
The history of Japan is also not what we commonly know – watch her video on the origins of the samurai.
Our written history is rubbish – look at Fomenko’s work