www.lesswrong.com/posts/2D2WgfohczTemcXvH/requiem-for-a-transhuman-timeline
2 corrections found
Dinosaurs lost to other animals, not to, say, bacteria.
This is backwards: the standard scientific explanation is that non-avian dinosaurs went extinct after a massive asteroid impact, not because they were defeated by other animals.
Full reasoning
Paleontology does not hold that dinosaurs were primarily displaced by competing animals. The mainstream explanation is that a massive asteroid impact 66 million years ago caused the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, wiping out non-avian dinosaurs.
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History states that "a massive asteroid" caused a "global catastrophe" that "ended their reign" and that "All dinosaurs (except birds) disappeared forever." That directly contradicts the claim that dinosaurs "lost to other animals."
So while the sentence is being used rhetorically, its factual premise is wrong: non-avian dinosaurs are understood to have gone extinct because of a catastrophic impact event, not because some other animal lineage beat them in ordinary competition.
1 source
- The Last American Dinosaurs: Discovering a Lost World | Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
At the end of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago... a massive asteroid ended their reign. All dinosaurs (except birds) disappeared forever.
European empires lost to other European empires, not to the peoples they colonized.
This overstates the role of rival European powers. Many European empires ended because anti-colonial and nationalist movements in colonized societies forced or won independence.
Full reasoning
This claim is historically inaccurate as stated. While rival European powers sometimes weakened one another, many European empires were in fact ended by the peoples they colonized through nationalist, anti-colonial, and independence movements.
Two clear counterexamples:
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British India: The UK National Archives explains that "the Quit India Movement of Gandhi, the cost of the Second World War, and the Indian Naval Mutiny in 1946 made Britain realise that India could no longer be ruled." In other words, Indian anti-colonial mobilization was a central reason Britain left.
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Portuguese Angola: The U.S. State Department's Office of the Historian states that "three Angolan independence movements emerged" and that Portugal later agreed to hand power over as decolonization advanced. That is a direct example of a European colonial power losing control to colonized peoples' independence movements, not to another European empire.
More broadly, the U.S. State Department's history of decolonization says that after World War II, "local nationalist movements" in Asian colonies campaigned for independence rather than accepting renewed European rule, and that in many places independence was achieved only after a protracted revolution.
So the statement is too categorical and contradicted by core cases in the history of decolonization.
3 sources
- Indian Independence - The National Archives
The Quit India Movement of Gandhi, the cost of the Second World War, and the Indian Naval Mutiny in 1946 made Britain realise that India could no longer be ruled.
- Angola - Countries - Office of the Historian
As post-World War II decolonization progressed elsewhere in Africa, Portugal continued to treat its African colonies as overseas provinces. Consequently, three Angolan independence movements emerged.
- Decolonization of Asia and Africa, 1945-1960 - Office of the Historian
After the Japanese surrender in 1945, local nationalist movements in the former Asian colonies campaigned for independence rather than a return to European colonial rule. In many others, independence was achieved only after a protracted revolution.