The Surprising Origins of Sci-Fi - Wisecrack Edition

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Science fiction is something we associate with modern times, all space travel, jet packs and the like. But the truth is sci-fi dates incredibly far back, and creative folks have been imagining intergalactic adventures and extraterrestrial beings for centuries. Come dive into the earliest days of sci-fi in this Wisecrack Edition: The Surprising Origins of Sci-Fi?
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Written by: Amanda Scherker
Hosted by: Jared Bauer
Illustrations by: JR Fleming
Interview Edit by: Sarah Brill
Directing/Motion Graphics/Editing by: Kim Kruse
Produced by: Jacob Salamon and Evan Yee
© 2019 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc.

[@chowyee5049]

A True Story needs to be adapted by whoever did that trippy scene from Dr Strange.

[@Bezaliel13]

YESSssss!!!!

[@alexsilva28]

Turns out he was an ancient Sorcerer as well and that really happened

[@sPitternaut]

Lucian inventing sci fi to roast dead historians reminds me of Edgar Rice Burroughs creating Tarzan & the Mars novels because he thought pulp fiction was so bad, he could half-ass way better stories. Somehow, sPite just seems like the mother of this genre.

[@sonicgoo1121]

Also how the Venga Boys came about. Just a DJ thinking 'I can do better than that'. :)

[@gh3118]

Also the reason for Don Quixote.

[@kendallmoore4826]

King Solomon’s Mines too; After Henry Rider Haggard read Treasure Island, his friend bet him that he couldn't write a better novel. Not exactly sure who won that wager.

[@wudupfammm8555]

@@TheZenBullet the eternal nerd

[@freetoplayking7362]

@@wudupfammm8555 sure thing Mr. Michael Moorcock only an eternal nerd gets this reference

[@naomistarlight6178]

I hate the term "surprising" used as click bait and I was fully expecting this to be a run-down of Frankenstein, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells, and so on. But I was actually surprised and I actually learned something!

[@TheRabidChipmunk]

I sympathize but the title isn't in all-caps so it's all clear

[@anonb4632]

Instead, we got a rundown of Bacon and Lucian, when there are other lesser known works. Also the comment about the Bible has dragged a lot of the edgy atheists out of their basements, and their comments are tedious and cliched as always.

[@mikealexander1935]

I had heard of Lucians book and Micromegas, but not Bacon's utopian society. Cyrano de Begerac's Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon is notable for its description of using rockets for travel.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

I was surprised there was no mention of Cyrano.

[@thesaintzor625]

Wisecrack has achieved the place where we can trust that if they say something will be surprising, it will turn out to be something rarely known.

[@trentonbean3531]

Jared: "3 pieces of scifi you had centuries to read" Me: "bruh I'm only 23"

[@crow9997]

Trenton Bean well sucks for you mortal

[@orangedude8013]

Well why not just extend your life time?

[@anonb4632]

Or even better, read books. If you aren't already.

[@KingAlpaca]

You look older

[@alexsilva28]

Reptilian Jared confirmed

[@Pandaemoni]

Micromegas is from a planet orbiting the star Sirius, aka the Dog Star, which is again, the name of Keanu's rock band. All things connect to Keanu.

[@DaiGunza2097]

KZbin cant demonitize you if they are sponsoring ya

[@SuperMunQ]

@Friday We Are Awesome There are ads on this video tho?

[@miguelorozco6138]

You'd be surprised.

[@bloodreaver6097]

@Friday We Are Awesome You know that's not how it works anymore, right? 😅 I mean about replies and comments

[@bloodreaver6097]

@Friday We Are Awesome Thanks 👍

[@Shedcats]

tell pewdiepie that

[@tsopmocful1958]

"Gulliver's Travels" (inspired by William Dampier's voyages) has been considered early science fiction, along with a medieval story about a trip to the Moon using a flock of flying geese that pull a man in a carriage to get there.

[@Labyrinth6000]

Not to mention that Gullivers travels is actually split into 4 voyages but people only seem to know about the story with Gulliver being a giant.

[@Skwisgaar_Skwigelf]

I wish you had mentioned Lucian's homeland which is Syria. We're pretty proud of him.

[@josephnarvaez9507]

Viracocha He's from the Roman Empire

[@ckl9390]

All depends on where the borders were at the time. The exact location of his birth and majority of his life could easily be within the ancient reaches of Syria, the modern borders of Turkey, and most of everywhere in Europe and the Near East was also the Roman Empire at some point. I guess the questions are who was the government at the time, and what culture did he hail from.

[@viveka2994]

He was a Roman, Syria claiming people who aren't their own

[@basheruo4415]

@@viveka2994 bro he himself said hes syrian and his mother language was syriac.

[@viveka2994]

@@basheruo4415 syrians today are Arabs, not Syriac

[@razieldumas]

I can't be the only person that's reminded of Gilgamesh while hearing about Micromegas

[@KolinAnimates]

Mmm, bacon utopia

[@JohnVKaravitis]

Not for your waistline it isn't.

[@alexsilva28]

@@JohnVKaravitis But great for the mind

[@u4yk]

@@JohnVKaravitis you've never heard of the keto diet.

[@garrettmasters7281]

This made me laugh out loud 🤣

[@khxml]

"Lettuce for wings?" Dope is another thing invented before the telescope.

[@joesjoeys]

YO! You tellin me he made up Benjamin Button before Benjamin Button was made up?! yo

[@JohnVKaravitis]

3:45 Don't forget Ezekiel and the weird lights/spacecraft.

[@ceratugo]

Jarred is so awkward as an interviewer, but in a cute way

[@Lambda_Ovine]

I mean, they started talking about very heavy topics almost from the get go.

[@PhyreI3ird]

I don't mean this in a condescending snippy way, but maybe you should give some actual pointers/helpful information. Helpfulness is after all pretty helpful.

[@calebl6609]

Jared always looks like Irish Jesus

[@aguilacahc000]

That's because he is 👀

[@Noctante4]

I was about to say "more like jewish jesus", but I think the concept is already taken x)

[@KiomonDuck]

He can't be Irish Jesus. He's not shitfaced out of his mind.

[@nicanornunez9787]

It turns the water in whiskey, I mean the water in his blood and brain cells.

[@dentoncrimescene]

How do you know what jesus looks like?

[@chowyee5049]

Anyone else really want an adaptation of New Atlantis that reads like a fantasy version of Star Trek? You know, we could follow a member of the Merchant of Light as he collects knowledge from all across the world like Starfleet does throughout the universe. We could also explore the downside of a cabalistic technocracy on a society.

[@CottonCandySharks]

It's too old to be claimed and is in public domain, you could totally do this!

[@chowyee5049]

@@CottonCandySharks well, I'll add it to my list of awesome concepts I'll probably never get down to turning into books.

[@chowyee5049]

@undertakersarmpit Orville still pretty Sci Fi though. At least Science Fantasy.

[@CottonCandySharks]

@@chowyee5049 haha same!

[@austinvoelker9270]

Maybe not New Atlantis, but I want to hive a crack at True Story and turn it into a Surrealist animated film.

[@safnhuo]

This video blew my mind....keanu reeves was in a rock band? Googling that discography NOW.

[@Bacopa68]

Stephen King and Amy Tan were in a rock band too.

[@bhuvaneshs.k638]

Please do a video on The Expanse Series...!! It's the best sciFi series ever

[@ian12346]

The Void that speaks Yuuup. Dune is the zenith. No doubt. Stoked for the new movie. 🤘

[@Sammyyaam]

Cough Battlestar Galactica cough

[@jaritsu]

Impulse is legit a pretty great show. But on the Sci-Fi front, Weird City is FANTASTIC. I hate to say it, but there's actually several good youtube originals. Obviously Kobra Kai, but yeah also Impulse, Campaign IL, Wayne (goddamn I love Wayne), Weird City...

[@chowyee5049]

Just finished A Canticle for Leibowitz. It's currently my favourite sci-fi dystopia.

[@heliosspecialistarrogant7031]

As sci Fi dystopia goes I say the best dystopia is the one from idiocracy, but the most realist dystopian at risk to happen is the one from demolition man.

[@naomistarlight6178]

@@heliosspecialistarrogant7031 Idiocracy is really funny and all, but I kind of cringe when it gets to sounding pro-eugenics, classist, and racist.

[@heliosspecialistarrogant7031]

@@naomistarlight6178 you weren't high enough wen you watched it, srl you can't Ave a good fiction whitout mildly inconvenient stuff that trigger those retarded fun killer, Harry potter add racist stuff and most anime Ave fan service, if you don't like it don't kill the fun of people's who like those minor world building filler at least the fill the plot hole and give a decent movie a thing movie don't do anymore.

[@hazelcalderbank1556]

@metalfaust19 The thing is, CRISPR being used to modify a foetus is also really contraversial, and theoretically much more effective than eugenics, so while they have the same theoretical end result, the difference in method is worth discussion

[@heliosspecialistarrogant7031]

@@hazelcalderbank1556 my argument : kaaaaaaannnnn!!!!!. And my retort will be: super baby will kill us we most kill them before by our self destruction or better options. But srl compared to the same result by different methods the idea of evolution should be more darwinist than enforced because if enforced the greed of a idiot could enforce a disability and generate a under race of slave, this is why cyborg and robot are better but less adaptive than biological mutations but in mutations we could lost our self and in cybernetic we are faded as a toaster, my idea I say both we create a big brain meat cyborg robot thing and we let it kill humanity.

[@ctomsky]

Loved the live interview at the end! Would love to see more stuff like that from the channel in the future! Constructive criticism time though! I'm sure it was probably one of your first times interviewing someone, and I think you did very well! Your questions were great but I think there's room to improve as far as your somewhat blank responses to their responses and then continuing on with the next question. Its a skill that I imagine, like any other, takes a lot of practice to get really good but I think if you guys did more interviews like this with other authors and philosophers, they would get better and better and be really entertaining! Overall, great video! Loved it!

[@claudiu7555]

Merry Christmas guys, really happy you are capable of finding sponsors and keeping the lights on. You're making some really great content for this platform.

[@Rynewulf]

Thing about Herodotus, was that there are now known explanations for his stories: for example hairy gold digging ants have via etymology been linked to central asian marmots, which like the 'ants' also live in areas known for gold, dig a lot, are aggressive, and live in the same areas described (As for the other two: a lot of gold was present in ancient Northern Europe and well established trade has been found to go back to the bronze age, and for the enema well Egypt is known for it's extremely old medical practices and to be honest oil based enemas sounds lightyears ahead of us a century ago when we blew tobacco smoke up there instead) And for Ctesias, a lot of weird ancient and medieval writings about remote/distant culture groups did this in general. Cultural traits, eg extreme ear piercings, get described back as defining traits so ear piercings tribe becomes 'weird ear people'

[@jacobdrj101]

I was unaware of these texts... Thanks!

[@Dr.-Dank]

Same!

[@cooldude56g]

Wisecrack: "Ha! KZbin can't demonize us if they're sponsoring us!." KZbin: "Challenge accepted."

[@davidcohen4518]

Impulse is a great show, thanks for the interview

[@Elfos64]

According to my dad (a self-proclaimed sci-fi enthusiast), it's only sci-fi if there's some sort of attempt to make sense of all the technology and seemingly impossible mechanics (effectively whether it contains technobabble). For example, he has no qualms with considering Back to the Future Sci-Fi even though it has bullshit time travel science because it makes an attempt to make sense of it: needing a large power source (1.21 Gigawatts), needs to be going at least 88 mph, and needs the Flux Capacitor. And he defines fantasy as pretty much anything where impossible stuff happens, spitting in the face of reality (he seems to consider most Action Movies fantasy). He gets really ticked when Sci-Fi and Fantasy are grouped together as if they were the same genre, he absolutely insists they are completely distinct genres that rarely overlap- though admits he does like some stuff that skirts the line such as Arrival. He doesn't hate fantasy, he loves the Chronicles of Narnia series, but it often seems like he does. Whenever I try to relate a thing we're talking about to some TV show or something I saw, he gets really mad that I think fiction bears any valid weight compared to the real world- and that someone who consumes as much fiction as I do doesn't have enough real world experience to judge how accurate those representations are. It might be worth noting he's also a devote Christian, I'll leave how that fits in with his seemingly negative feelings towards Fantastical elements up to your interpretation.

[@anonb4632]

Real science fiction fans call it SF not "sci fi" though. 😆

[@anonb4632]

@@TheZenBullet For future reference, KZbin comment sections are not suited to long diatribes. Especially not when some of us are reading them on a phone. p.s. From what I saw of them, your analyses are pretty superficial anyway.

[@themexis]

Jared interacting with mortals is hard to watch. i think his intellectual expectations were way too high. poor guy didn't even bother with the notepad after the first response. kinda funny and kinda sad at the same time...just the way i like it :)

[@lisamedla]

Your comment is the only reason why I'm sticking around for the interview🤣

[@rjrodriguez2270]

Eternal Sunshine and Ex Machina? Good movies but ehh, pedestrian

[@exoteeelis]

@@rjrodriguez2270 This is basically a shorter version of the Rick and Morty copypasta.

[@spacekoalalove]

did we watch the same interview

[@Spoeism]

From a "True story" (170AD) the 1st story; Lachanopters -Elder Ones (Lovecraft) Anemodromians -The Vril ("The coming race") Living lights - Ophanim Thrones aka Wheels, D'Jinn, The Pilan. City on a cork - Floating cities. Fishpeople/Trarychanians - Oannes, Nommo, Dagon. "The deep ones". Tritomendetans - Cherubium aka Tetraform beasts aka Sphinx, Griffin, Llamasu, etc. And the story correlates locations featured in Babylonian/Sumerian/Akkadian text. *Taps side of nose*

[@spencegame]

Lead is a helluva drug

[@assassingio9847]

I love sci-fi and seeing it's roots i'm fascinated to learn more.

[@user-mz5by7wf1e]

I wonder if everything we contemporarily call mythology today; was, when-they were first-written, their "sci-fi."

[@robertorojnic4370]

I definitely enjoyed this mega-gickout. Love your videos. Kudos

[@chooseitwisely98]

I have never seen Jared's legs and i was not ready somehow

[@drw_predator]

Thanks brother for putting this together

[@ManicMaxi]

If you haven't already check out Čapek's War With The Newts

[@CottonCandySharks]

Loved this!!

[@dominicrouse2623]

Guys that was wonderful! Can you guys do more along this line?

[@lkhjsdfg]

The book of Jonah isn’t science but it is at least fiction.

[@hermanspaerman3490]

Some even claim that the entire book, Jonah is a part of, is fiction.

[@anonb4632]

@@hermanspaerman3490 Whip out your edgy atheism, guys! But at least get it right - Jonah itself is a book. The Bible is a collection of books, which consists of multiple genres. So your statement is dubious on at least two literary grounds.

[@hermanspaerman3490]

@@anonb4632 , So, what's your point. Is it wrong to question the bible regardless of whatever book you happen to refer to. Do you seriously think I would consider some books in the bible holding truth over others. A collection that was arbitrary put together by a council in the year 325 A.D. Don't think so.

[@anonb4632]

@@hermanspaerman3490 My comment was about genre and literary analysis. The Bible is a compilation of works from different time periods and sources, and different genres. The usual cliché these days is to refer to the Bible as a "fairy tale", which is also inaccurate on a number of scores. Some parts of the Bible are overt fiction - such as the parables - while others don't fit into the paradigm of creative prose at all.

[@kthemaster1999]

Well yeah, Christians will agree. Only the super nutty ones won't.

[@Frank-do1bg]

I loved everything in this video. I realised how much I love sci fi

[@jevinday]

I enjoyed the interview at the end!

[@wyvernfallgaming]

I actually found out about that ancient "true story sci fi" just a couple months ago its definitely interesting

[@reubenmarchant2229]

I read Lucian's A True Story in Kindle, it gives references to the works he is satorizing.

[@sidious501]

that interview was rough. Loved the sci fi deep dive though

[@666thebeast4]

Yeah my spell jammers are now fighting lettuce winged swans this is gold!

[@bobbyplease4302]

Quality breakdown on the early days of sci fi and imaginative connections to human progress!!

[@guest_informant]

Impulse: "Imagine if Carrie had seizures"

[@stormcrow8834]

Good vid. Maddy... You rock. This

[@TheCreepypro]

not just a great history of scifi but a pretty good interview there at the end

[@2urh]

"Ever seen black mirror?" >gets rise of skywalker ad

[@tanmaygemini]

I love that you guys put in a spoiler warning consistently. Sometimes, people just spoil old movies or books without warning and when you object they point out that it came out 30 years ago so I had plenty of time to watch it. Well, I wasn't alive 30 years ago. And even if I had been, I might not have been able to see it then or might simply not have known about its existence. It's not like every human being is a perfect encyclopedia of pop culture. And normal people only get to hear about old stuff from their friends/online articles. It's just not fair to assume that if something's pretty old, it can be spoiled. In fact, it's more probable that fewer people you know have seen something that came out 50 years ago compared to something that came out last week.

[@dimitreze]

amazing video

[@melissacaintravis4656]

This is great! I wish it had mentioned Johannes Kepler's Somnium (1608).

[@ACEnBEAKY]

This feels like a mix between the Far Side, Kingdom Hearts, and half of what CS Lewis wrote (particularly Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the Space Trilogy) with overtones of Dr. Suess and a smattering of HP Lovecraft. It's like this guy was trying to do the Monty Python skit version of the Odyssey and 2001: A Space Odyssey with a nod to the Bible. Somebody needs to make a video game of this. It feels like a Psychonauts level, but with elements of Kingdom Hearts and the parody of Conker's Bad Fur Day.

[@buckleycloud3962]

The Tempest by Shakespeare is also sometimes taught in college Sci-Fi courses. To say that certain books are the earliest examples of Sci-Fi is, paradoxically, not the same as saying that those same books are the *origins* of Sci-Fi. Generally speaking, the consensus seems to be that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is the first work of Sci-Fi, but since I'm not a *huge* Mary Shelley fan, I'm willing to see this overturned, but it must be based on a definition of what it means to be the origin of something. I think that what it means to be the origin of something, in terms of literature, has to do with 1.) readership (i.e. a work not read by anybody can hardly be the origin of anything), and the fact that 2.) it inspires others to write the same kind of book.These are the minimum criteria, and there are probably more, but note that, while the above three *are* Sci-Fi, they don't pass these two criteria. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein maybe doesn't pass, either, idk. I'm not trying to be difficult, I just would've thought that the question of what it means to be the origin of something would've been the first thing discussed in the video. But, believe it or not, I did really love the video, I'm really excited to get to reading Lucian's True Story and Voltaire's Micromegas, did not know these existed!

[@nikebauschaum4714]

So good! And utterly surprising! I've alway thought of Mary Shelly as the founder of SciFi! Can you do a video on "Weird Fiction"? It's a new genre derived from SciFi. The most prominent work to date is "Annihilation" by Jeff Vandermeer

[@6.5ftkristapsporzingis71]

Fantastic video

[@alexanderstone4486]

I know you guys dont do such things but it's really interesting to think about sci-fi in music, and just world crafting through sound

[@jonsaboe2019]

See "Help, Help, the Globolinks!" an opera in four scenes by Gian Carlo Menotti about an alien invasion. (1968)

[@jonathonboon9396]

Could you guys do a break down of "falling down"

[@Sir1us1]

11:13 is the bolshoi theatre in Moscow, not a university. Check your sources.

[@jasonbelstone3427]

Have you tried *That Hideous Strength* ? and its companion literature or essay, "The Abolition of Man"?

[@MarioMonsalve]

I love this channel! 👍🏻 😎 🤟🏻

[@iiireeeneee]

2 dozen grandmas. Love that time reference

[@amaurylannes]

In France Micromegas is actually very widely studied

[@skylersands9813]

Uncut Gems is a must cover for this channel

[@hellojari07]

interesting stuff, thx

[@aljawad]

If you search just for SF concepts in ancient texts, the classic example is Homer's Iliad where in one episode Hephaestus shows his command over his creations that include living golden women and voice activated tools (robots and AI).

[@ericisprobablyfullofshit7797]

I would argue that although she's thought of today as one of the mothers of modern gothic horror Mary Shelley has a claim to being an early science fiction writer. Not just the sub title of Frankenstein, the modern Prometheus, but the subject matter is very much about the science of the day. Then you have The Last Man which is a straight up post apocalyptic story, and was published about 20 years before Jules Vern was born.

[@Ralndrath]

Wow, that Bacon dude was amazing! Way, way, way ahead of his time.

[@satya4234]

Woah! This is really useful because I'm writing about science fiction for university.

[@Saraco88]

It would be to awesome to see them do a full video on cosmic horror, even though they talk about existentialism a lot anyways. Lol

[@MrRAH6889]

Can you guys do a vid on first principal thinking?

[@Mr_Case_Time]

I recommend, nay, implore you to read the Rama series by Clarke. Pretty epic.

[@uncomfortablecat]

Merry Christmas and can you guys make a video on fantasy genre? I don't understand it. Isn't that just Fairy Tales for Grownups? Merry Christmas.

[@diegorodriguesdesouza7389]

You guys could make a list with books used in the videos.

[@uberdan1337]

"... in which the central character watches the Earth be casually destroyed to make way for an intergalactic bypass, as well as much of H.P. Lovecraft's work." Well *that* is a fresh take on Hitchhiker's Guide. lol

[@ericisprobablyfullofshit7797]

"Analog KZbinr" I almost did a spit take when I heard that. I had to swallow fast.

[@wolfgangv.2052]

Another important early science fiction work is Somnium (the Dream) by Johannes Kepler, in which the protagonist uses magic to travel to and explores the moon and sees the Earth revolve in the sky.

[@GuilhermeHarrison]

And here I though no one could come close to Extra Sci-fi's comprehensive history of sci-fi. Had no idea the ancient history of it.

[@peterfmodel]

This raises a good point. We can define what sci-fiction must possess in order to be classed as science fiction. Some, or all, of the story must be technically possible, feasible or plausible. Magic, for example, is an element which excludes a story from the science-fiction classification in most cases. ESP is a border line topic, but as long as some form of scientific basis behind it is explained it can still be classed as science fiction, however it must be plausible. So in the initial 6 Star Wars movies, the force does not preclude star wars from being science fiction because it is classed as something which has a scientific basis, just. Of course the last three movies blows this apart and the force has moved into total fantasy by being about to do anything the writers want it. When we deal with borderline cases we need to determine the impact of ESP, or magic in the story. If the story is only about ESP, or scientifically explained magic, its better placed in the fantasy bucket. If it’s a scientifically explained element, but is only part of the story with the real being plausible, then its likely science fiction. Doctor Who started grounded in reality so would be classed as science fiction, but the reboot contains a lot of fantasy elements so probably is moving towards fantasy. So, in summary, if a story feels like it could occur in some alternative universe, with our current level of scientific knowledge, but is not possible or currently occurring in our current universe, its probably science fiction. 1984 is science fiction, buffy the vampire slayer is fantasy. If this is correct i am not certain if these works would be classed as sci-fi.

[@BrainBlatster]

In defense of Herodotus: he actually stressed that he believed a lot of the things he wrote down to be false. However, he methodically chose to write down everything he heard, especially about foreign lands, peoples and creatures. Not with the intention to lie, as said he often wrote that he himself believed these things to be untrue, but because he believed that no knowledge should be lost, even if its a myth,. I study history and like most of my collegues i wish more ancient historians would have used these methods, because a lot of knowledge has been lost simply because some authors thought it wasnt true and didnt bother writing it down.

[@increasepeace4996]

Well that would make him more of an anthropologist than an historian then.

[@SonofSethoitae]

"New Atlantis" brings to mind another 17th Century proto-science fiction work, Margaret Cavendish's "The Blazing World".

[@OFFICIALFUNUSBAND]

Wisecrack is the best

[@Rhekon]

Merry Jared, Christmas.

[@geoffreywinn4031]

Cool video!

[@ArtanesCS-Rockon]

Tritomendetan doesn't bring anything up on google, can I ask where you guys got the picture?

[@marksalmoneussorcerersupreme]

That's actually a illustration of a manticore

[@adidobrea9917]

Welcome back Jared 😅

[@SobeCrunkMonster]

Broooo I HAVE TO read that first story that was brought up. the imagination of that guy from year 170 is gnarly af

[@sensor.mellow]

Lucian's work is the literary equivalent of "Tripping balls, man"

[@hopexv9679]

You Will do a video on the last season of mr robot??

[@caiohenriquecristovao635]

Talk about the Mr. Robot conclusion!

[@hazelXin223]

That utopia one is just fallout 4. Todd.. I'd like to have a word with you

[@mang_0nim81]

Oh god it's Christmas, and my depression attacks as Jared shows himself

[@arrowsmate1127]

Stay strong pal

[@marksalmoneussorcerersupreme]

Lucien's Story is not only the first sci-fi tale but it's also a published Imaginary story.

[@sunjoexys7251]

Lucian's True Story sounds like Bloodbourne, especially the man with dog's face.

[@cjgeminitarot6836]

So does this mean we can finally start using grandmas as a measurement of time?

[@ckl9390]

5:02 To be fair to Herodotus, he was more of an anthropologist than a historian, though the distinction didn't exist at the time. He collected people's cultures, which included how they perceived history and the world. He even noted that what he had been told at times indeed sounds outlandish to impossible, but deciding what was and was not true wasn't his job. His task was to record what he was told by locals in his travels and present it as unfiltered as possible including notations on where the story came from, who told it, and how prevalent that story was to give an idea of how widespread that belief was. As for the cedar enema, while highly problematic on it's own, it would certainly kill a variety of intestinal parasites be them animal of fungus. Overly Sarcastic Productions (also on the KZbin) did a video on him and compared him to his contemporaries, would highly recommend it.

[@tecpaocelotl]

What about some of stories in One Thousand and One Nights which some of scifi themes.

[@luujasonful]

Feel better Jared!

[@paulopralves]

Have you guys read "The History of Science Fiction" from Adam Roberts? It's a great book about how the science fiction developed from the ancient Greeks, to the modern ages, just the way you guys are talking about. Really good book.