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Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 18, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

There are some parts of history, especially ancient history, where we have very little documentation. The third century crisis in Rome, the Mayans, the Carthaginians, are all examples. Which “black hole” in history most interests you?

If I had to pick, I would love more info on the Parthians/Arsacids. They ruled Iran for 500 years and were the Romans most perennial rivals. We don’t have any native narrative history from there, and really have to piece things together from minimal evidence.

It's not exactly the same as what you're asking, but I'm very sad knowing we'll (likely) never know anything about the vast, vast majority of human languages that have ever been spoken. It'd be incredible to know exactly how Proto-Indo-European sounded, what other language families it was related to (did it share a common ancestor with Proto-Finno-Urgic?), whether the Altaic hypothesis in any of its forms really is correct, and so on.