Local minima aren't the historically average bar to exceed.

> Local minima aren't the historically average bar to exceed.

I wasn't picking out a local minims on either end (well, not intentionally); I was picking out the times being compared (that of Columbus vs. now) from the context of the discussion.

But really, the same applies to the whole of history from the ancient period up through and including all of the early modern period vs. say, any time from the mid-20th century on, to avoid any problems with overspecificity on either end.

History renders comparisons murky and imprecise, but my point was more contingent on the availability of quality information than behavior.

Now, we know many things. Then, we did not know many things (although we perhaps believed more).

So an every-person (I'm talking generally, not only of the most scientific), plucked from a more ignorant time of history, would have a more developed method of dealing with confusion.

I don't quite buy the counter-argument (if this is yours?) that we're a more scientific society. I would have before COVID, but not now...