This bronze computer found in a ship wreck could do astronomical calculations and figure Olympic events.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/ancient-computer.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/ancient-computer.html
Those Greeks sure were very observant and thinking people, at least some of them were including Archimedes who scientists believe built the apparatus. I too was amazed when viewing the program as to how they found out how it actually was built and why is was built.
Another civilization that failed to apprehend what their intellectual and technological developments were on the brink of exploding into (or lacked the socioeconomic incentives to push over the hump and instantiate the incredible future resting on the other side of the mountain which they had climbed to the peak of). If they had done so, the accomplishments of year 3500 would have pre-maturely arrived here in 2013: Archailect "gods" and posthuman species, with self-replicating nanotech "wildlife" filling interplanetary space like ocean creatures. As a more pessimistic alternative, however, the current date might instead concern a long-dead Earth littered with the ruins of either nuclear devastation or bio-engineered plague. A Hellenic or Greco-Roman steampunk empire might have botched the direction of progress in more genocidal and environmentally destructive ways than our own over the last 500+ years.
But they were invaded by the Romans and were pillaged and destroyed by them. So how can a society continue when they are decimated by outside forces beyond their ability to fight off?
Those Greeks sure were very observant and thinking people, at least some of them were including Archimedes who scientists believe built the apparatus. I too was amazed when viewing the program as to how they found out how it actually was built and why is was built. To be that knowledgeable about making this instrument and understanding the movements of some of the planets, although incorrectly showing them revolving around the Earth not the Sun, they had to be close to genius.
Another civilization that failed to apprehend what their intellectual and technological developments were on the brink of exploding into (or lacked the socioeconomic incentives to push over the hump and instantiate the incredible future resting on the other side of the mountain which they had climbed to the peak of). If they had done so, the accomplishments of year 3500 would have pre-maturely arrived here in 2013: Archailect "gods" and posthuman species, with self-replicating nanotech "wildlife" filling interplanetary space like ocean creatures. As a more pessimistic alternative, however, the current date might instead concern a long-dead Earth littered with the ruins of either nuclear devastation or bio-engineered plague. A Hellenic or Greco-Roman steampunk empire might have botched the direction of progress in more genocidal and environmentally destructive ways than our own over the last 500+ years.
Our pride in ourselves is as false as the NAZI pride in Germany, because our education is no longer manifesting the culture and nation that we defended in past world wars
But they were invaded by the Romans and were pillaged and destroyed by them. So how can a society continue when they are decimated by outside forces beyond their ability to fight off?
I'd agree with you in part. Our education system in America is in very bad shape and it is getting worse, not better. I'm thankful that at my advanced age I hope not to watch America go down the drain but it sure looks like it is headed that direction doesn't it.
This bronze computer found in a ship wreck could do astronomical calculations and figure Olympic events.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/ancient-computer.html
Perhaps, but either way I never would have imagined the Greeks could have built such a device. I didn't know they were capable of making such sophisticated metalwork.However, maybe is it over stating to call it a computer instead of a clock?
how many times will they talk about antikythera device...-.-
It would be impossible to build a device of such complexity and precision out of wood or any other non-metallic substance.The bronze one survived, you have to wonder how many they created from wood or other materials.
It would be impossible to build a device of such complexity and precision out of wood or any other non-metallic substance.
This is why the discovery of the technology of metallurgy is regarded as a Paradigm Shift in the development of civilization and why the Bronze Age (which it launched) is counted as a major chapter in our history.
Humans are clever and our ancestors did some remarkable things with Stone Age technology, including the invention of flint blades, musical instruments, paint, agriculture and pottery. But it wasn't until the Bronze Age, and the invention of the precise sturdy artifacts that could be made of metal, that they began to make the astounding progress that has been the hallmark of civilization. They couldn't even invent the wheel without metal saws to cut nice straight boards out of trees. (A cross-section of a trunk does not have strength in the required direction.)
So you can be sure that there were no wooden computers.