[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":103},["ShallowReactive",2],{"post-\u002Fblog\u002Fcleopatra":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"date":93,"description":94,"extension":95,"meta":96,"navigation":97,"path":98,"seo":99,"sitemap":100,"stem":101,"__hash__":102},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fcleopatra.md","The Timeline Glitch",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":85},"minimark",[9,13,16,22,25,30,33,36,52,56,72,75,79,82],[10,11,12],"p",{},"Our brains are terrible at processing \"deep time.\" As we look backward, we instinctively compress distinct eras into a single, muddy blur.",[10,14,15],{},"We categorize everything before year zero as \"Ancient,\" failing to register the massive voids in between.",[17,18,19],"blockquote",{},[10,20,21],{},"\"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.\"\n— L.P. Hartley",[10,23,24],{},"The most violent example of this distortion involves Egypt.",[26,27,29],"h3",{"id":28},"the-glitch","The Glitch",[10,31,32],{},"You likely picture Cleopatra standing in front of the Pyramids while they were being built. It fits the aesthetic. It feels correct.",[10,34,35],{},"The reality destroys that perception.",[10,37,38,39,43,44,47,48,51],{},"Cleopatra VII died in ",[40,41,42],"strong",{},"30 BC",".\nThe Great Pyramid of Giza was completed around ",[40,45,46],{},"2560 BC",".\nThe first McDonald's opened in ",[40,49,50],{},"1940",".",[26,53,55],{"id":54},"the-math","The Math",[57,58,59,66],"ol",{},[60,61,62,65],"li",{},[40,63,64],{},"Pyramids to Cleopatra:"," ~2,530 years.",[60,67,68,71],{},[40,69,70],{},"Cleopatra to McDonald's:"," ~1,970 years.",[10,73,74],{},"Cleopatra was chronologically closer to ordering a Big Mac than to seeing the Great Pyramid being built.",[26,76,78],{"id":77},"the-perspective","The Perspective",[10,80,81],{},"To her, the Pyramids weren't contemporary marvels. They were already ancient ruins, older to her than the Roman Colosseum is to us today.",[10,83,84],{},"We flatten history to make it fit in our heads. Don't trust your intuition on time.",{"title":86,"searchDepth":87,"depth":87,"links":88},"",2,[89,91,92],{"id":28,"depth":90,"text":29},3,{"id":54,"depth":90,"text":55},{"id":77,"depth":90,"text":78},"2025-12-05","Why your brain flattens history.","md",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fcleopatra",{"title":5,"description":94},{"loc":98},"blog\u002Fcleopatra","Sz8Dqpg4bjvFOvGNn5hyALkfNCZGtYUX-DgI5JNHSdQ",1783186628091]