Standup Zone Forum
General => Random => Topic started by: PonoBill on September 02, 2014, 10:55:07 AM
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http://www.gizmag.com/hublot-antikythera-mechanism-first-computer-watch/20517/
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I read a great article on the Antikythera in (i think) National Geographic last year. Pretty freaking amazing that level of tech existed so far back. Where would we be today if so much technology hadn't been lost in the dark ages.
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I had no idea about this. Absolutely amazing. Could it be a hoax?
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This seems very odd. Not the conceptual design but the capability to produce micro gears at that time. Has this been explained?
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Never been completely expained, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. There are all kinds of knowledge, research and technology in both the greek and chinese cultures that would be challenging to reproduce today. The gearing was not just small and precise, it was also non-linear, which is something no one does today. Requires an indexing system of substantial complexity--or incredible handwork. But it's within the bounds of feasible technology. Watchmakers made extremely complex masterworks well before there was anything like an electric motor. Sailing ships carried chronometers accurate enough to determine latitude with good precision. Handwork is only imprecise when there's no one passing on generations of practice and no one apprenticing for half their life to learn it.
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But are there examples of metalwork of this scope and precision form that time? It would seem that there was no such handwork or fabrication process to have been passed down....and then it just disappeared. Nothing before it, nothing after it. A high precision blip. Am I missing something?
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Yup, it's true for all kinds of ancient tech. Its well known that Chinese were drilling through rock to extreme depths to recover salt water. They had a major industry boiling the water for salt. No trace remains. It's well known that they had ships many times larger than any European ship, crossing the oceans. No trace remains. Anything metal got melted down when civilization collapsed. Most books got burned or used for toilet paper. The Christian zealots wiped out a lot--angels made the stars move. Anything that said otherwise was heresy. They didn't just burn the books. They burned the libraries and the librarians.
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Wow - really interesting. Thanks for posting this Pbill. Loved the Lego version.
http://vimeo.com/17648733
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This is just another reason/example of why I always had a hard time accepting the book "Chariot of the Gods" by Carl Sagan.
He never really got into the destruction and/or rewriting of history.
Unfortunately it still happens today, the radical muslims (Taliban and the like) are very good at trying to wipe out history, and the monuments left behind.
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Carl Sagan would have been the first person to reject "Chariots of the Gods", which was written by Erich Von Däniken. Sagan believed very much in the possibility of aliens and even led some of the search for alien signals, but he had nothing to do with the "Chariots of the Gods" book or that idea of ancient astronauts. He was a very fact-based scientist, brilliant in that regard.
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Like Bill said...after the fall of the Roman empire a lot was lost. Burning libraries and librarians was just the start.....devices that could predict planetary motion and proved that the earth was not the center of God's created universe would likely be some of the 1st things to go.
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Okay. my head just spun almost completely around reading "Chariot of the Gods" by Carl Sagan. As Ichabod implied, if Carl were going to rise from the dead and nominate a book for burning (not that he would do either) it would be that one.
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He'd probably reject (though I too doubt he'd burn it) it billions & billions of times... ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ex__M-OwSA
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There was some great debate on this exact topic a couple months ago on the surfermag forum.
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I hang my head in shame as soon as I found that old book. :P
But my take remains the same with that old book. :P :P :-\ :o
It was sitting right next to my copy of "Cosmos".
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Ha ha, no worries WW.
I can remember watching Sagan's Cosmos back in the day. One of his most memorable segments to me was his tale of the loss of the main library of Alexandria.
http://ehistory.osu.edu/world/articles/articleview.cfm?aid=9
edit: youtube to the rescue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Duk1OENzer4
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Cosmos was awesome...I actually watched it all again a few years ago when it was available on demand for the 30th anniversary. All the episodes are online now. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBA8DC67D52968201
The new version with Neil DeGrasse Tyson I've found to be somewhat boring unfortunately.
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It's been dumbed down and the stupid repetition and recapitulation following commercial breaks that is the current fashion for documentaries makes it unwatchable and virtually content-free.
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A barnacle encrusted Lego mechanism and a tarnished iPhone were found on the same sunken ship that are also believed to be from 100 BC. Heublot is working on modern recreations of both but they are running into some resistance from the associated brands.
Most astounding is how seamlessly news venues are now blending paid content into beautifully written journalistic content.
Here we are discussing an ad like it is a news story. Score one for Heublot and gizmag.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_F5GxCwizc
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Next, someone will claim that Car and Driver and Motor Trend might also be biased? Blasphemy...
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Who do you think wrote the Heublot piece, Gizmag or Heublot (or J Peterman)?
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Although the cynic in me would say J Peterman catalog, Loz Blain actually wrote it and puts it in good perspective at the end of his article:
"The watch is a concept piece only, and will be presented at the Baselworld watch show in 2012. It's a lovely piece of work, a wonderful homage to the brilliance of our 22 century-old ancestors - and a bloody good excuse to write a thinly veiled history piece for Gizmag. I hope you've enjoyed it!"
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Thinly indeed. Terrific writing, though. Makes me want to tattoo HΣVBLOT on my chest. Read the article comments for funny usage of Greek/Latin characters.
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This talk and thinking about the destruction history and tech stuff got me thinking again [oh no, watch out] I was recalling why there is a bite out of the Apple logo, it's an interesting factiod.
Alan Turing (that better be his name) the father of computer science was gay, and was prosecuted for it in England after WWII-ish, and was blacklisted, so he went home and applied a little cyanide to an apple and killed himself, and that's why there's a bite out of the apple.
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Turing pretty much won the war for the allies while accidentally inventing modern computing. In gratitude they booted him and Winston though at least they didn't hound Winnie to death.
I certainly would buy one of those watches if they sold them for less than, say, two Bullet 17's of the hollow carbon flavor. Though I do kind of object to owning a watch that basically says "you blow". If I'm not going to wear a watch, the watch I prefer to not wear is a Tag Heuer Monaco. Like Steve McQueen. Also dead.
As a former advertising guy I disavow any knowledge of native advertising or content marketing no matter what the B&J website says.