Anaxagoras Was Exiled for Claiming the Moon Was a Rock
The title of the article doesn&#x27;t really match what the article has to say about his trial. It does, however, work nicely as an example of a general rule I have:<p>I&#x27;m always suspicious when hearing tales about scientists who were punished for their discoveries by less enlightened minds. Looking into it, it mostly turns out they were either sentenced for other crimes or, as this article claims was the case here, that it was most likely a political move masquerading as being motivated by theology.<p>Which itself falls under another similar guideline: if any big societal undertaking (wars unfortunately seem to be the most common example) seems motivated by religion, that&#x27;s usually not the true reason behind it.<p>Perhaps my own beliefs are colouring my interpretations, but it just seems like people&#x27;s actual motivations tend to be pragmatic but they market their actions as being out of belief or morality.