Discussion What if ancient nobility watched science documentaries?

As the the title says, how would they react and what would they do if in some king's castle everyone of import watched a full series of science(~15h) documentaries from historical discoveries to present.
This includes Darwin's theory, round Earth, not center of the universe, atoms, microbes, gravity, pressure, light......quantum theory.

 

They'll go for a witch hunt

 

How are you gonna explain the tv/computer and how are you gonna power it. Answer those first before you worry about how they react to what is shown

 

At most they will declare it as a heretic knowledge and ban it throughout the lands. If by chance one of these nobles is ambitious enough to harness the knowledge without being known to utilize them, then a whole sort of mayhem will happen with various changes in power structures or something. At least how I see them reacting.

 

It depends on what you define as science documentaries. There are a whole bunch that have been disproven with further knowledge or are deliberately misleading to lend support for a cause.

And I point to the second one as problematic because it might be actionable, but for a different reason. I.e. flat earth documentary. They'll point to it and say, "this is truth."

 

In Ye old Times: 'What Blaspemy is this?! This foul, strange device would cause our heads to explode due to the sheer sorcery of these...'Science' that are curse by a witches' hex! Burn this cursed item, the witch and behead the person who brought this to me!'

In fantasy: 'What the hell is this magical device? Science? Can this be a new form of magic i never heard off?'

 

What if they watched hentai?

 

Amazement+doubt+curiosity+panic+bewilderment=chaos(that sh*t's gonna be a national secret sealed in some hellhole)

 

The answer would be "fapfapfapfapfapfapfap"

 

The question is, would ancient nobility care to understand science?

Its 50/50 some would and some wouldn't. There's a reason why the dark ages was a dysfunctional period in history

 

Most probably will be regarded as heretic as shown in the past etc between church and Galileo Galilei. Coz church has high influence in ancient nobility.

Tho I really want to see what will happen if they watch hentai....for academic purposes

 

It's projected by a hidden projector which magically vanishes aftewards, not the point of this thread....

Pretty sure I mentioned round Earth and aspects of physics so obviously I'm talking about real documentaries. If you wanna talk about quack documentaries being presented as the truth to the ignorant, that's a spin off.

 

There brain would probably explode or at least melt

 

Define "ancient" nobility. The way I see it, most nobility from antiquity, so Pharao's till the rise of christianity circa 200AD, will accept most of our science as plausible. It'll probably vary per culture group and none of them will accept ALL information, but they will most likely give it a good think.

During the Medieval period, there would probably be a witch hunt. Less so in the Islamic world, who might be more similar to antiquity in regards too research, but even they would start witch hunts.

From the Renaissance onwards, the nobility might be accepting of a lot of information, but venomously reject everything undermining their own interests. Actually, rejecting everything that may harm their interests is kind of a staple for nobility.

Example: While it may be a proven fact that educating everyone will increase productivity etc, it also creates a situation where a dungcovered snot-nosed peasant boy could actually be smarter than your prized son, the product of years of selective (in)breeding with superior genes! Or even worse, women might start asking for equality! Slavery and serfdom would become unnecessary, at the cost of a nobles own standing.

In short, whatever benefits the ruling class, the will use. Everything else will get buried, burned, killed and stamped as big, fiery HERESY.

 

Probably just call it heresy or that you are blaspheming their god

 

If you remove Christianity from the mix, then it becomes difficult to say...

 

Not really religion has been used as a tool to consolidate power throughout most of history. Just isolating Christianity shows how little you know of world history.

 

Hence my first point, documentaries disproven when we obtain further knowledge. Like one on the 9 planets. Nope, it's 8 now. Are you calling that 9 planet documentary a quack now?