In the 200 years from the early 1300s until the Spanish conquest in the early 1500s, the Aztecs dominated what is now central and northern Mexico. During their peak, the Aztecs were among the world’s more advanced civilizations, with a well-organized government, impressive architecture, advanced engineering skills, and an astronomical-based calendar that rivaled the accuracy of those we use today.
The Aztecs’ religious practices included human sacrifice – sometimes even the ritual killing of children. They believed that the tears of their dying children would please Tlaloc, their god of rain, who would bless the Aztecs’ crops with the water needed for a bountiful harvest.
With the benefit of 500 years of hindsight, it’s easy to see how ridiculous this thinking was, both from a science and theology standpoint. In contrast to our “enlightened” modern era, those Aztecs were practically barbaric. With the obvious exception of parts of Alabama, humans today are the most advanced civilization in the history of mankind.
Of course, 500 years ago, so were the Aztecs.
However, before passing judgement on the Aztecs, remember that almost 200 years following the fall of the Aztec empire, the state of Massachusetts was executing people for the crime of witchcraft – a practice that ended only after the Massachusetts governor’s wife was accused of demonic possession.
A lot can happen in 500 years. For an animal that lives an average of only 75 years, 500 years is a very long time. But for a species that has been around about 300,000 years, or an earth that is 4.5 billion years old, 500 years is a rounding error.
I suspect the Aztecs would have looked back 500 years and considered the 9th century Pueblo people as backward and naïve – much like we perceive the Aztecs today.
Now imagine humans in the year 2600. When they look back at 2025, it will almost certainly be with the same type of scientific, moral and theological superiority that influence our opinion of the 16th century Aztecs and 17th century Massachusettsians. I wonder what they will admire about us, and what practices they will consider the equivalent of sacrificing children so it will rain?
My guess is that humans of every era assumed they were approaching the pinnacle of knowledge. But human understanding grows exponentially, and future generations will likely outpace us in science, morality and theology, just as we have outpaced those before us.
For me, reflecting on these questions is more of a rhetorical exercise, because I lack the imagination necessary to envision specifics. But thinking in much broader scopes of time reminds me to be a little less judgmental – a little less sure of being right and about others being wrong. It’s the civilized thing to do.
David Moon is president of Moon Capital Management. A version of this piece originally appeared in the USA TODAY NETWORK.