Sanskritic debate culture was pretty wild. It was mostly the purview of Brahmin priests back in a time when Brahmins weren't allowed to handle money or own property. So their entire trade involved...
Sanskritic debate culture was pretty wild. It was mostly the purview of Brahmin priests back in a time when Brahmins weren't allowed to handle money or own property. So their entire trade involved accruing disciples and attracting enough celebrity status that notable people would invite them to officiate their events.
Part of this involved a culture of what can best be described as philosophical rap battles. Philosophers would go around picking arguments with each other with terms being that the loser has to shave their heads and become a disciple of the winner. What is today regarded as the "established doctrine" of Hinduism was basically formed by a single priest named Adi Shankaracharya who literally travelled all across the length and breadth of ancient India and whopped them all in debate.
The first Islamic invaders of India actually commented on this, remarking that the Indians seemed to take religious arguments more seriously than anyone, but curiously never thought it appropriate to wager life or property on it. If you couldn't convert someone through debate, it just didn't count.
We haven't improved in 1800 years. We're still dealing with the same aspects of humanity on the internet as we were long, long ago.
Sanskritic debate culture was pretty wild. It was mostly the purview of Brahmin priests back in a time when Brahmins weren't allowed to handle money or own property. So their entire trade involved accruing disciples and attracting enough celebrity status that notable people would invite them to officiate their events.
Part of this involved a culture of what can best be described as philosophical rap battles. Philosophers would go around picking arguments with each other with terms being that the loser has to shave their heads and become a disciple of the winner. What is today regarded as the "established doctrine" of Hinduism was basically formed by a single priest named Adi Shankaracharya who literally travelled all across the length and breadth of ancient India and whopped them all in debate.
The first Islamic invaders of India actually commented on this, remarking that the Indians seemed to take religious arguments more seriously than anyone, but curiously never thought it appropriate to wager life or property on it. If you couldn't convert someone through debate, it just didn't count.
We're just here to make the same mistakes over and over with progressively more impressive technology at our side.