When Will We Learn?

By Robert Barr

“When will We Learn?” poignantly points out the advantages that modern civilizations could have had if mistakes and corrections from ancient civilizations were heeded. Our current humanitarian progress should be far ahead of standing starvations, impoverishments, wars, territorial greed, and tyrannical control of humans in subservient environments.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Aug 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781489743404

Robert Barr

Robert Barr (1849–1912) was a Scottish Canadian author of novels and short stories. Born in Glasgow, Barr moved with his family to Toronto, where he was educated at the Toronto Normal School. After working for the Detroit Free Press, he moved to London and cofounded the Idler with Jerome K. Jerome in 1892. Barr went on to become a popular and prolific author of crime fiction.

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Copyright © 2022 by: Robert Barr.

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ISBN: 978-1-4897-4338-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4339-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4340-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022914991

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 08/10/2022

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1: Pre-Modern Human History

Chapter 2: Egyptian Civilization

Chapter 3: Egyptian Downfall

Chapter 4: Plagues and Biological Warfare

Chapter 5: Revolutionary War

Chapter 6: US Civil War

Chapter 7: Vikings

Chapter 8: Ancient Greece

Chapter 9: US Abandoned Military Facilities

Chapter 10: Space Dangers

Chapter 11: Dealing with the Environment

Chapter 12: Moral Decay

Chapter 13: Freedoms

Chapter 14: Dumbing Down

Chapter 15: World Energy Reserves

Chapter 16: Mining Waste

Chapter 17: Garbage

Chapter 18: Nuclear Waste

Chapter 19: Nuclear Powered Commercial Ships

Chapter 20: Rule of Law

Chapter 21: Government Waste

Chapter 22: Where are We? A Perspective

Chapter 23: Realization

Chapter 24: Consequences of Permafrost Melting

Chapter 25: World’s Population Capacity

Chapter 26: Space Exploration

Chapter 27: Sea Level Rise

Chapter 28: Intellectual Property Thievery

Chapter 29: Cyber Attacks

Chapter 30: China’s Limitations

Chapter 31: Galactic Perceptions

Chapter 32: Pleistocene and Holocene Extinctions

Chapter 33: Learning from Extinction

Chapter 34: Long Dead Bacteria and Viruses

Chapter 35: Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route

Chapter 36: Capitalism

Chapter 37: The Truth from History

Chapter 38: Slipping Sovereignty

Chapter 39: Divisiveness

Chapter 40: Borders for Unity

Chapter 41: Learning

This book is

dedicated to Frank Bettinger, a good friend and philosopher who has departed this Earth. Throughout his life, Frank was a proponent of history and to the learning from it.

PROLOGUE

If we look back to the Neanderthal extinction of 40,000 years ago and the beginnings of Cro-Magnons at 300,000 years ago, the eventual evolution of humans possessed an instinct for survival coupled to necessary innovation. Through the millennia, however, survival was important but subservient to innovation and conquest. As millennia passed and Cro-Magnons proceeded to current Homo sapiens, language and complex tools became evident. Modern thinking has produced both civil advantages and tremendously selfish detriments to control civilization and humanity.

Can innovation be contrived to produce subservience of a select group of individuals to others? With innovation, control, obedience, loyalty, and forced subservience, rulership can be enjoyed by some hominoids over others. History of any length lends credence to this idea.

Ancient times, civilizations’ histories, and archaeology provide ample evidence that over zealousness and control hungry country or Providence leaders wanted psychological and tangible means to control people in their country or others, possibly, the world. For thousands of years, these human thoughts have been present to produce grandiose aggressive acts driven by traits of avarice. Not all humans have or exercise these traits, but the traits or characteristics are sufficient enough in DNA or otherwise to cause leadership conflicts, war, international envy, or hatred, since the beginning of any form of human civilization.

Chapter 1

PRE-MODERN HUMAN

HISTORY

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P RIOR TO MODERN DAY ACTIVITIES much history has taken place. Prehistoric and ancient world history are at the limits, grasp, or scope of science and historical tools. Our understanding is proportional to recency. Hopefully, time, technology, and science will provide better tools for learning, enlightenment, and realization of a long past Earth and humanoid changing events. Knowledge of any part of history may guide us in the future.

It is a certainty that humanity possesses a long and very interesting history. Before carved, chiseled, or scribed historical records, humanoids were in the process of gaining inventiveness for surviving, and, thereby, evolving. In the thoughts of improvement, innovation, adaption, or survival, ideas of control or conquering another Neanderthal’s, Cro-Magnon’s, or Homo sapiens territory, goods, or mate were surfacing.

Homo Neanderthals probably appeared about 500,000 to 400,000 years ago and became true Neanderthals around 300,000 years ago. Fossil records show Neanderthals lived in Eurasia from 200,000 years ago until their extinction. Extinction dates very: from 42,500 years ago to 29,000 years ago. However, 40,000 years ago is the most prevalent date, but a recent date of 24,000 years ago has been theorized. Further, a theory has been postulated: Neanderthals interbred with Cro-Magnons or Homo sapiens and did not become wholly extinct. A supposition says as much as 2.0 percent of Neanderthal DNA exists in nonblack humanoids. Another estimate is much higher in percentage. If any DNA exists, it has likely hybridized over time. A theoretical co-location, probably in Eurasia, lasting nearly 3,000 years would be catalytic to hybridization.

It is impossible to determine if Neanderthals had premonitions or forethought, but the idea of interbreeding gives an idea of clan or tribal longevity with mass power and, possibly, planning. Would interbreeding with Cro-Magnons allow Neanderthals more territory or vice versa? The theory seems reasonable, but we have no clear answer or evidence.

Dates vary for the first Cro-Magnons. A proposal of 160,000 years ago has been made, but around 120,000 years ago in Africa, Cro-Magnons were spreading to Western Asia. Some evidence fits their occupancy of Western Asia at around 100,000 years ago. Exact dating is most elusive, since we are dealing with millennia. Extinction for Cro-Magnons is not an applicable term, since Cro-Magnons became Homo sapiens –us.

There are portions of modern societies that believe modern humans have always been as present – no evolving or change of form- ever. Paleoanthropology and other sciences with fossil records indicate Homo sapiens via Cro-Magnons have, indeed, changed and adapted over thousands of years. World weather changes, floods, glaciations, earthquakes, asteroids, volcanoes, tar pits, etc. have forced hominoids to adapt or change locations. In the times of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, Smilodon, the saber tooth tiger, coexisted in the Americas during the Pleistocene Epoch, 2.58 million to 11.700, years ago. The largest of the specie probably weighed from 500 to 1000 pounds and was just short of fifty inches at the shoulder. While Smilodon disappeared from existence about 10,000 years ago, the animal must have forced some ingenious avoidance or hunting techniques for Cro-Magnons. Like it or not, innovation for survival was an absolute necessity in the Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs.

Homo sapiens, Cro-Magnons, or both hominoid species migrated from Sub-Saharan Africa to the Levant in a period of 130,000 to 100,000 years ago. In the seventh millennium BC, trade was predominant between what is now Yemen and East Africa, which resulted in Egyptians possessing Yemenis mitochondrial DNA. Possibly, some Homo sapiens migrated from the Levant, but migrating Yemenis may have floated the Red Sea or followed along the African east coast to become Egyptians in a few millennia. The Egyptian – Yemenis DNA ratio is fine, but the route to Egypt is conjecture. The Sinai Peninsula is occasionally considered the southern portion of the Levant but it is normally professed as a bridge to Egypt, especially the northern portion.

With the prehistoric migrations from the Sub – Saharan portion of Africa and with a majority of Homo sapiens or Cro-Magnons proceeding to the Levant, ideas of peace and tranquility might be expected. However, as time and rulers’ minds contemplated expansion, avarice brought control wars, which became inevitable as history proceeded to currency.

The battle of Kadesh, now modern Syria, was representative of Egyptian ruler aggression – more control of land and people. In 1,274 BC, Rameses II moved north with the idea of conquering Kadesh and its people. The Hittites from the Levant area of modern Turkey had similar ideas. Chariots were utilized, but a stalemate followed, whereby, a peace treaty was drawn that has lasted to modern times. Certainly, this was not the first battle, but it was recorded and produced a peace treaty. It seems catalytic to centuries of battles and wars to follow. The following centuries demonstrated we are slow to learn that battles or wars are unfavorable to humankind. The possibilities of control, riches, power, and expansion are too much for greedy rulers to overcome. Are we to learn that control is part of human nature? It seems so, but control must be used for the advancement of all humans, not control from the elite over the masses.

From the approximate time of 1.7 million years ago, Homo erectus had transited Africa to the Levant, and as time passed through millennia before the modern era, battles occurred for control of land, people, and religion. The early seventh century AD saw Syria fall from Byzantine control to Arab – Muslim raiders. To follow, Byzantine raiders tried a takeover of Palestine but were repelled, again, by Arab forces.

The Levant endured the Romans in this time, and they were successful in marauding Muslims as they returned to Syria with booty and slaves. Other battles occurred through the ages in the Levant causing the eventual evolution of countries such as Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and sometimes, the Sinai Peninsula.

We cannot overlook the fact that Jesus lived in the Levant and endured the introverted thinking of Romans for power and control. While professing the existence of God and a true philosophy by which to live, the Romans interpreted Jesus as a political enemy. The Romans saw a single rabbi as a threat to control, since many Romans wanted to follow Jesus and his King. From the Roman experience with Jesus in the Levant, it is apparent that fear of losing control is a prime motivator, which is nearly equal to the zest, zeal, aggrandizement, and selfish motives for battles to conquer new lands and countries.

In assessing the time of Jesus’ death, it is difficult not to consider Herod, the provincial Governor of Galilea, as a major factor in the Levant. He was brilliant and a tyrant; yet, he had abilities to accomplish great things through political clout. For example, the Temple of Jerusalem, amphitheater of Caesarea, and the harbor of Caesarea were his contributions. Herod was most probably a Roman first, then, a Jew. Christians were not in his favor, since they had an increased following and a following toward God, and as perceived by Herod, Christians posed a political power threat in the Levant.

In thousands of years of Levant history, the land witnessed immigration, survival, growth, leadership, countries, disease, corruption, and the fall of an Empire derived from great innovation through human avarice. The vast period of human occupation brought technological advancement, but societal and humanitarian learning lacked the commensurate progress.

Chapter 2

EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION

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B Y AN OBSERVANCE OF EARLY Egyptian history, archaeology, innovation, ingenuity, and high-level intellectual activity had been demonstrated and placed into action. Narmer was the first king in the Dynastic Period beginning about 3,150 BC and is generally credited with unifying Egypt. Most Egyptologists agree that Narmer and Menes are names for the same person. From nearly 5,200 years BP, the unification of Egypt was a feat nearing that of a miracle. The unification was caused by conquest of Lower Egypt by Upper Egypt. Narmer’s Palette shows his crown with depictions of Upper and Lower Egypt.

At its glory, Egypt encompassed the Upper and Lower portions including the section of land between Aswan and Khartoum, essentially that of Nubia. The initial growth and power of Egypt came from ingenuity in harnessing Nile powers and its general predictability to develop agriculture and a well-fed nation.

From good nutrition and living necessities provided, intellectual activities provided leadership, mathematics, geometry, engineering, and a complex polytheistic religion. It is obvious Egyptians could think on a level well advanced for their time. The pyramids, especially Khufu’s Great Giza pyramid, has a wonderment through millennia. The engineering of approximately twenty years cannot the duplicated in modern times. The Great Pyramid or Khufu’s Pyramid was probably constructed between 2,589 and 2,566 BC and engineered by Khufu’s vizier, Hemiunu, Sneferu’s grandson. To say the least, Hemiunu’s knowledge of mathematics, logistics, geography, transportation, and organization of workforces was superb and, in all probability, unmatched.

How is it that Hemiunu, a man of 4,600 years ago, engineered and manufactured a structure For Pharaoh Khufu that would last for millennia and defy modern duplication and questions of methodology? To date, we don’t understand the engineering techniques utilized by Hemiunu. There are approximately 2.3 million stones in Khufu’s pyramid with many of them weighing from 2.5 to 2.7 tons. However, the King’s chamber contains stones weighing from25 to 80 tons, and most stones were transported on the Nile on a 500-mile trip from Aswan. Quarrying stones of fifty tons and larger presented a multi- faceted problem: quarrying, transporting to the Nile in Upper Egypt, sailing the Nile to Giza, unloading the stones to possible flotation in temporary canals to near the pyramids, unloading the stones for placement by a combination of sledding by watered sand, using ramps, and utilizing fulcrums or levers. Water and flotation have been theorized near and on the pyramids.

It is a certainty that Hemiunu possessed knowledge unknown to many of his peers, since construction and engineering appear as his forte, and the fact that the Great Pyramid exists and cannot be duplicated indicates vast knowledge, wisdom, management skills, and logistical know-how were his attributes.

For certain, Hemiunu possessed superior knowledge of mathematics and geometry. Khufu’s pyramid required knowledge of triangles and circles that was essential, since an organized structure with a height of 146.5 meters, contains 2.3 million stones, weighs 6.5 million tons and has lasted 4,600 years cannot be constructed by just piling stones together. While Pythagoras lived some 2,000 years later, Hemiunu apparently applied understanding of golden triangles and numbers, long before such concepts were, supposedly, known. Hemiunu apparently lived a privileged lifestyle, but in his younger years, he studied all materials available to him. While dates for Hemiunu’s birth and death are not known, only estimates are offered. More than likely, Hemiunu was the grandson of Snefru and his father was Prince Nefermaat. Khufu apparently died near the finish of his pyramid in 2,566 BC. And was about 63 years old, making his birthdate around 2,629 BC. It is likely Khufu was Sneferu’s son. History and absence of records allowed no certainties. Hemiunu could be slightly older than Khufu. If Hemiunu died somewhat before the Great Pyramid’s completion, maybe, 2,570 BC and had worked in Giza some years before the Great Pyramid, then, Hemiunu might have been approximately 50 years old to begin Khufu’s pyramid. An estimate for Hemiunu’s birthdate would be around 2,639 BC. Unfortunately, there exists no substantiating evidence. The dates are pure estimates. The antiquity of the era indicates Egyptian skeletons to be 32 to 34 years old at death. Royalty and those protected could live to twice the average age.

Hemiunu acquired vast experience from Sneferu’s Meidum, Bent, and Red pyramids constructions. Errors and lasting techniques were made, and it seems a certainty Hemiunu observed, learned, and contributed his acquired knowledge to the building of the Great Pyramid. Before the Great Pyramid, Hemiunu worked on many mastabas populating the Giza Plateau. In any case, Khufu’s vizier, Hemiunu, was enlightened, organized, and experienced before his work began. It is obvious Hemiunu was aware of Pi and Phi and the ratios from which they came. These ratios have always existed, and while Hemiunu discovered and utilized these concepts, he did not invent them. Pi is generally concerned with geometry, and Phi is concerned with ratios. Apparently, these have been existent for all time and are embedded in many disciplines used by humans.

With his initial work on the Giza Plateau under the auspices of Sneferu, Hemiunu studied and acquired the principles of engineering and the ideas of Pi and Phi. When Snefru died, Khufu, his son, became Pharaoh, and from what history we have, the initial Khufu –Hemiunu relationship was not the best or most productive. Yet, Khufu felt he needed and deserved the greatest edifice or pyramid on Earth, and the obvious qualification for vizier and chief engineer belonged to Hemiunu, personality differences or not. For some years, Hemiunu worked for Sneferu on the Giza Plateau, which included smaller pyramids, burial sites, and mastabas. Sneferu died in 2,589 BC, and Hemiunu may have been 50 years old. However, Hemiunu worked on and engineered the Great Pyramid for more than two decades with pyramid completion around 2,566 BC. Reliable dates are not available and vary. Khufu’s death has been given as 2,566 BC. Apparently, Hemiunu died around 2,570 BC. These dates would give him an age of approximately 69 with the birthdate of 2,639 BC. Although reliability is in question, it appears Hemiunu died four years before the Great Pyramid was completed. We may never know exactitudes.

When Khufu began his reign as Pharaoh in 2,589 BC, Hemiunu began the Great Pyramid planning and engineering before the death of Sneferu, who was interred in the Red Pyramid. The Red Pyramid weighs nearly 6 million tons and is strong evidence that Hemiunu knew and utilized Pi/ Phi relationships to his advantage. Undoubtedly, his linear measurements were in Royal cubits, or 1.9102196 cubits per meter. Here, meters will be used, which is a more familiar measurement. Actually, numbers are the most important.

Khufu wanted a grandiose pyramid for his eternal, Royal afterlife existence, and Hemiunu was going to fill the bill. Hemiunu needed a large