Linguistics point about the current pandemic: the origin and use of the word "influenza" and its effect on current thinking.'nLong ago, the European, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern model of the universe was composed of nested spheres.
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Linguistics point about the current pandemic: the origin and use of the word "influenza" and its effect on current thinking.
Long ago, the European, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern model of the universe was composed of nested spheres.
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Linguistics point about the current pandemic: the origin and use of the word "influenza" and its effect on current thinking.
Long ago, the European, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern model of the universe was composed of nested spheres.
Each sphere was defined by some visible member of it (except for the outermost primum mobile, which was visible only in the sense that it imparted motion to all the others). So, for example, Saturn had a sphere. Jupiter had a sphere.
Each sphere imparted motion to the spheres inside of it, all the way down to the earth in the middle there.
The effect that a sphere had on the sphere below it was termed its influentia, which comes down to us in the very bleached out, generalized concept of "influence." For the ancient model, this influence was real, physical, and measurable.
The spheres washed through different forces and counterforces, pushing and pulling something like the tides (which they saw as Lunar, etc., sort of like how we do). When a sphere was in ascendancy, it exerted more influence on the spheres below it, etc. This is the physical science basis for Astrology.
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Each sphere was defined by some visible member of it (except for the outermost primum mobile, which was visible only in the sense that it imparted motion to all the others). So, for example, Saturn had a sphere. Jupiter had a sphere.
Each sphere imparted motion to the spheres inside of it, all the way down to the earth in the middle there.
The effect that a sphere had on the sphere below it was termed its influentia, which comes down to us in the very bleached out, generalized concept of "influence." For the ancient model, this influence was real, physical, and measurable.
The spheres washed through different forces and counterforces, pushing and pulling something like the tides (which they saw as Lunar, etc., sort of like how we do). When a sphere was in ascendancy, it exerted more influence on the spheres below it, etc. This is the physical science basis for Astrology.
Down at the center, the lunar sphere defined the boundary between what was changeable and what was not. Beyond the lunar sphere, everything was eternal and floated(?) in the eternal substance 'aether.' Inside of the lunar sphere, the "aether" turns to air. Air then transmits down to the center - the earth.
So to recap: we live @ the center of a set of spheres, each of which has a tidal influence on the spheres below it, etc. We live in the changeable "bottom" of the great vault of the heavens, down here in a sort of POV-central mud.
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Down at the center, the lunar sphere defined the boundary between what was changeable and what was not. Beyond the lunar sphere, everything was eternal and floated(?) in the eternal substance 'aether.' Inside of the lunar sphere, the "aether" turns to air. Air then transmits down to the center - the earth.
So to recap: we live @ the center of a set of spheres, each of which has a tidal influence on the spheres below it, etc. We live in the changeable "bottom" of the great vault of the heavens, down here in a sort of POV-central mud.
Ancient medical people from all over this conceptual world naturally concluded that, since the spheres had impacts on the physical world, then they also had impacts on our physical health.
When a planet's sphere was in ascendancy, they naturally asked what kinds of effects it would have on our physical circumstances.
For example, they thought that Saturn and Mars being in conjunction (two of the spheres of misfortune), the result was the Black Death.
ALL OF THESE EFFECTS TRANSMIT DOWN TO US THROUGH THE AIR. THE SUBLUNAR AIR BELOW THE MOON. AIR IS THE PHYSICAL CONDUIT OF THE EFFECTS OF THE PLANET SPHERES ON OUR HEALTH.
Please think about that for five minutes.
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Ancient medical people from all over this conceptual world naturally concluded that, since the spheres had impacts on the physical world, then they also had impacts on our physical health.
When a planet's sphere was in ascendancy, they naturally asked what kinds of effects it would have on our physical circumstances.
For example, they thought that Saturn and Mars being in conjunction (two of the spheres of misfortune), the result was the Black Death.
ALL OF THESE EFFECTS TRANSMIT DOWN TO US THROUGH THE AIR. THE SUBLUNAR AIR BELOW THE MOON. AIR IS THE PHYSICAL CONDUIT OF THE EFFECTS OF THE PLANET SPHERES ON OUR HEALTH.
Please think about that for five minutes.
When a doctor studied a person who was sick, they sought to understand which of the spheres was influencing them. They KNEW it was from a sphere. They just sometimes didn't know which one.
When they could not identify a source, they just ascribed it to the influentia of the AIR. Because obviously that was the last stop on the influence train anyway.
So the air was
a) the last step on the chain of medieval medical descriptions of sickness
b) the model-theoretic "wastebasket" of their theory of medicine.
When they ascribed something to this, they called it la influentia - to the "influences".
This is where we get the word "influenza" from.
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When a doctor studied a person who was sick, they sought to understand which of the spheres was influencing them. They KNEW it was from a sphere. They just sometimes didn't know which one.
When they could not identify a source, they just ascribed it to the influentia of the AIR. Because obviously that was the last stop on the influence train anyway.
So the air was
a) the last step on the chain of medieval medical descriptions of sickness
b) the model-theoretic "wastebasket" of their theory of medicine.
When they ascribed something to this, they called it la influentia - to the "influences".
This is where we get the word "influenza" from.
As you may or may not know, the "Renaissance" was basically one of those mass European events where everybody turns into a crabby teenager and rebels against their parents.
They spent a LOT of time trashing the medieval world. And they did it so well that YOU hate the medieval world, too, don't you. You think it's all just backwards bad shit and people rolling in mud. (Except for Knights & their Ladies, who are so cool that they just chugged right along, ignoring the shit-talk.)
The Enlightenment doubled down on this, and since then, we very much define "Modern" as "Not Medieval."
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As you may or may not know, the "Renaissance" was basically one of those mass European events where everybody turns into a crabby teenager and rebels against their parents.
They spent a LOT of time trashing the medieval world. And they did it so well that YOU hate the medieval world, too, don't you. You think it's all just backwards bad shit and people rolling in mud. (Except for Knights & their Ladies, who are so cool that they just chugged right along, ignoring the shit-talk.)
The Enlightenment doubled down on this, and since then, we very much define "Modern" as "Not Medieval."
As medicine changed, they tried very very hard to NOT BE MEDIEVAL MEDICINE. There were good reasons for this, obviously. For example, blaming Mars for your fever doesn't really get good results.
But like snotty teenagers, who steer their boat decidedly into the rocks just to prove they're not their responsible sailor parents, the Moderns really went whole hog AGAINST air.
This is, at root, why there is a deep, visceral hatred of "airborne" among med people. It's older than "Miasma." It goes all the way back to the end of the Geocentric model.
Viscerally, they see you in a mask and they see a plague mask. They think you're worried about the influence of the planets.
This is the root behind all the relentless attacks on masks as "unscientific".
They're just being dumb reactionaries.
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Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
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@kenobit vai a sentimento<3
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@mora 😢 mi spiace molto
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@mindaugas @john yes, and we also need to start building out an infrastructure of Fediscovery servers, but it is there in principle.
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@kenobit Se ci sono canzoni ok, diciamo che la parte di parlato secondo me dovrebbe durare fra i 10 e i 15 minuti.
Credo sia più o meno la durata di una trasmissione radiofonica di 30 minuti con break pubblicitari e stacchi musicali.
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@andypiper @john fosdem25 talk "Fediscovery: Improving Search and Discovery on the Fediverse" looked promising. I listened again now, its says consent based on "discoverable" and "indexable" setting which already exist https://archive.fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-4531-fediscovery-improving-search-and-discovery-on-the-fediverse/
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@bbacc Solidarietà... non so i motivi precisi ma mi risvegliano alcune esperienze...
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@Dio chissà se li sposerà...
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tornata a fare attivismo da 2 settimane e già mi ricordo perché avevo smesso
