ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS WITH SMARTPHONESImagine for a moment that ancient civilizations had smartphones. Instead of artistic carvings on stone or dusty manuscripts, the Mayans, pharaohs, and Roman emperors would have documented their daily lives with video selfies. What would their social media have looked like? What would Leonardo da Vinci have posted on his profile? And what if we had footage of the Titanic sinking, recorded by the passengers themselves?
Well, AI has done exactly that—recreating historical moments with mind-blowing realism, as if smartphones had always existed. From the Mayan civilization to the Victorian era, passing through the Roman Empire and Ancient Greece, these videos bring historical figures to life, capturing key moments through their own "cameras." Thomas Edison filming in his lab, the first woman to fly a plane sharing her achievement, or even the people of Pompeii recording their last day before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Beyond how fascinating and surreal these images are, this opens up a huge opportunity in education. Imagine learning history not through boring books full of dates and names but by seeing the people of the past tell their own stories firsthand. Not just reading about the Library of Alexandria but watching it in its prime. Not memorizing facts about the Persian Empire but listening to its own citizens narrate their history.
With technology like this, social sciences would no longer be that dull subject we used to hate. Instead, they’d become an immersive experience, capable of transporting students directly into the past. History told by the people who lived it, with a level of closeness we could only dream of before.
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The slow-motion clip of the day.
RICHARD DAWSON'S KISSESThe other day, I stumbled upon a video online that really caught my attention. It was a clip from a TV show where the host kissed all the female contestants on the lips, and it all seemed completely natural. Something that, nowadays, would be almost unimaginable. After digging a little deeper, I found out it was Richard Dawson, the host of the hit game show Family Feud in the '70s and '80s.
Dawson’s unique habit of kissing contestants wasn’t planned from the start. It began spontaneously when one particularly nervous contestant stepped up to play. To calm her down, Dawson gave her a kiss on the cheek. As luck would have it, she went on to win the game. From then on, the gesture became a sort of good luck charm, evolving into a tradition that became one of Dawson’s trademarks.
Of course, even back then, not everyone saw this practice in a positive light. There were critics who questioned whether it was appropriate or felt it crossed a line. However, the majority of American society viewed these kisses as something charming and harmless, and Family Feud remained a beloved program for audiences.
It’s fascinating how something that seemed so normal at the time now feels surprising or even uncomfortable. Each era has its own way of interpreting relationships and social gestures, and Richard Dawson’s story perfectly reflects how society back then embraced a more laid-back and spontaneous perspective. Perhaps that’s why, for many, those times carry a certain nostalgic charm that’s hard to replicate today.
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Today’s slow-motion moment.