every time we remember that continental drift wasn't a widely believed idea until the 1960's, when people finally started figuring out plate tectonics, it kind of shakes us. it feels weird and anachronistic that it's only been excepted for 50-60 years because it feels like an idea that would have been around for much longer.
it feels like being told that phlogiston wasn't disproved until the 1920's (not true, just an absurd made-up example)
it feels thematically related to https://xkcd.com/2682/