22 Cool Ways People Explained Stuff Before We Had Science

We’re very smug here in the present, since by definition we’re the most advanced society that’s ever existed. Well, as far as we know. There could be an alien race looking down on us right now, both literally and figuratively, musing to each other, “Isn’t it cute how they think the alignment of the planets has some effect on their behaviors and personalities?”

That’s pretty much how it feels to look back on a time when natural disasters were thought to be punishments for our sins and illnesses were caused by an imbalance of bodily fluids (which is today if you listen to the semen retention guys, which we don’t recommend). Until such a time when science can explain why all Leos are, like, like that, though, it’s kind of a fun system, right?

It turns out history was actually full of these neat little stories that satisfied a scared population that didn’t understand why it was so cold outside or how gravity works, and a flight of fancy was as good an explanation as any. That’s why user Creph_ asked r/AskReddit, “What are some of the most interesting mythological explanations for real scientific (phenomena)?”