How Man Desired to Fly

Jaybird180

Jaybird180

Final Approach
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
9,036
Location
Near DC
Display Name
Display name:
Jaybird180
Perhaps with intelligent discourse we can keep this topic in the public forum and out of the Spin Zone- it may be tough, but here goes

admins - I hope you will tolerate a light theological discussion as I don't think it can be avoided given the question- it's inevitable.


The question is:
If there were no birds or other flying creatures in nature, would man have conceived of the concept of flight?
 
Sure. Eventually someone would have noticed that some thrown objects stay in the air longer than others and tried to figure out why.

Tim
 
Yeah, I agree. I don't think the lack of birds would have kept contemplative creatures from asking "what if?"
 
Birds don't fly in space, yet men have been there.
 
timrb said:
Sure. Eventually someone would have noticed that some thrown objects stay in the air longer than others and tried to figure out why.

Tim
Click to expand...

Please name some objects that would exist if there were no natural flyers.
 
Jaybird180 said:
Well men flew in space because the moon and stars were "up there". What if they werent?
Click to expand...

IMO it would be like being in the middle of a room. Eventually you're going to wonder what's outside it, whether it's up (flying), or down (digging), or sideways (walking).

If there were no stars, I think it would make it harder simply because we wouldn't understand the laws of physics as they relate to orbital bodies. Also there wasn't much to do hundreds (and thousands) of years ago, so looking up at the stars was a pastime, the movement of the stars caused people to look more closely and study the changes.

Math was the same kind of concept, if we didn't have fingers to count on, there are other things that we would use. Like rocks. Or the objects we wanted to keep track of.

(although if we didn't have any fingers I don't know if we'd be here today)
 
I suspect a combination of a strong wind blowing away their shelter, and getting a view from the top of a hill our mountain or ridge would have started things in motion.
 
If there were no fish or aquatic creatures in nature would man have conceived of the concept of swimming? ;-)
 
Jaybird180 said:
Perhaps with intelligent discourse we can keep this topic in the public forum and out of the Spin Zone- it may be tough, but here goes

admins - I hope you will tolerate a light theological discussion as I don't think it can be avoided given the question- it's inevitable.


The question is:
If there were no birds or other flying creatures in nature, would man have conceived of the concept of flight?
Click to expand...

Leonardo da Vinci studied birds in 1500. The quote, “Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” is attributed to him. If that is truly his quote, he did seem to have an understanding far beyond what one would expect, considering he did not actually fly.
 
I think man would certainly have contemplated it, although I think it would have taken longer to come up with an airplane without having something to reference in coming up with some way to produce lift. I think seeing birds in flight gave man the idea for an airplane wing but not so much inspiration for a lighter than air balloon or other types of aircraft.
 
Sure. Same way as we invented computers, phones, etc. None of those things are found in nature, but we made them happen.
 
Flying squirrels and bats are mammals and not birds. Insects of enormous varieties fly. Flying fish (largely gliding fish) abound.

Yes, humans, had they appeared through evolution without the pressure of birds (fat chance), would have observed abundant aerodynamics and would have pursued the skies.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top