ancient greek mathimatical machine rebuilded

[Sasha]

yes, its made of lego but i still it fits better here than in chitchat:

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how cool is that

[red cat]

This is awesome ! We should have a subsection in this forum for ancient scientific and technological advancements. Can you please describe the working of this machine in details ?

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

This is awesome ! We should have a subsection in this forum for ancient scientific and technological advancements. Can you please describe the working of this machine in details ?

It's vaguely a calculator. I think...

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

It's vaguely a calculator. I think...

To be more specific, it's an astronomical calculator.

It's a stunning achievement, and stuff like this and the Baghdad battery (which was actually used for the process of electroplating, if I remember correctly) indicate that the ancients were more technologically advanced than we usually give credit for.

This really shouldn't be surprising - certainly in biological terms ancient humans had just as much brainpower as do modern humans, who benefit from more widespread education and greater knowledge.

[Widerstand]

To be more specific, it's an astronomical calculator.

It's a stunning achievement, and stuff like this and the Baghdad battery (which was actually used for the process of electroplating, if I remember correctly) indicate that the ancients were more technologically advanced than we usually give credit for.

This really shouldn't be surprising - certainly in biological terms ancient humans had just as much brainpower as do modern humans, who benefit from more widespread education and greater knowledge.

Neanderthals had bigger brains than homo sapiens (averages of 1700cm³ vs. 1500cm³).

Mb Neanderthals didn't get extinct or absorbed, but went to UFOs?

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Neanderthals had bigger brains than homo sapiens (averages of 1700cm³ vs. 1500cm³).

They may have had bigger skulls, but we don't know how the cerebral tissues were organised. It's possible that their brains weren't as efficient as ours. But more data is needed to make a definitive statement.


Mb Neanderthals didn't get extinct or absorbed, but went to UFOs?

Highly doubtful. Where's the evidence?

[Red Commissar]

Did they ever find who made it? I remember some said it was Archimedes but it wasn't definitive enough to do that.

Still it just shows the technological and scientific achievements people from that time period, as in any point, were capable of.

[Luisrah]

Jesus, those guys were more intelligent than I'll probably ever be :(

[Manic Impressive]

If these examples were working technologies what happened to make the world forget? I know for example that when the romans left England there was a rejection of the roman ways and a reversion to previous methods. But why did this seem to happen everywhere?

[Technocrat]

If these examples were working technologies what happened to make the world forget? I know for example that when the romans left England there was a rejection of the roman ways and a reversion to previous methods. But why did this seem to happen everywhere?

Civilization has its ups and downs. There have been several calamities throughout history where knowledge has been lost, only to be recovered later, if ever.

[Manic Impressive]

Was there ever one period which can be identified as being catastrophically regressive or were they isolated incidents over a wide time frame? Also if these artefacts worked well why are there not more of them and how come they were not exported to other cultures as many other things were?

Just saying if they were really that useful why is there so little evidence of them, is it not possible that they were "almost made it" kind of inventions.

[revolution inaction]

If these examples were working technologies what happened to make the world forget? I know for example that when the romans left England there was a rejection of the roman ways and a reversion to previous methods. But why did this seem to happen everywhere?

I'm not sure how accurate it is but in terry jones's barbarians book he claims that the Romans where somewhat anti intellectual, because they tended to reliy on there military power and slavery, he mentions things like a Gaulish grain harvesting machine that was abandoned after the Roman conquest, and a case where and inventor trys to sell a machine to the local governor (i thing someking of harvesting mechine) but is rejected because the governor sees that it could do the work of many peasants which he assumes would put them out of work and make them rebellious.

[Technocrat]

Was there ever one period which can be identified as being catastrophically regressive or were they isolated incidents over a wide time frame? Also if these artefacts worked well why are there not more of them and how come they were not exported to other cultures as many other things were?

Just saying if they were really that useful why is there so little evidence of them, is it not possible that they were "almost made it" kind of inventions.

Well, remember that the greeks had slaves. Lots of slaves. So, they didn't really have a great need to invent labor-saving devices. This doesn't mean that they weren't intelligent enough to do so, as evidenced by this recent finding.

There isn't a single period which was catastrophically regressive. Collapse is usually a very long, drawn out process.

[Technocrat]

I'm not sure how accurate it is but in terry jones's barbarians book he claims that the Romans where somewhat anti intellectual, because they tended to reliy on there military power and slavery, he mentions things like a Gaulish grain harvesting machine that was abandoned after the Roman conquest, and a case where and inventor trys to sell a machine to the local governor (i thing someking of harvesting mechine) but is rejected because the governor sees that it could do the work of many peasants which he assumes would put them out of work and make them rebellious.

Correct, the Romans were primarily a warrior culture. They adopted all of their religion, science, and philosophy from the Greeks whom they conquered. After conquering the Greeks, the Romans made the Greeks their slaves and made them teachers. Kind of a weird relationship - you conquer someone who is more educated than you are and then force them to tell you what they know.

The one area where the Romans had superiority was in military tactics and technology. In other respects, they were rather barbaric compared to the Greeks prior to the conquest of the Greeks.

[Dimentio]

If these examples were working technologies what happened to make the world forget? I know for example that when the romans left England there was a rejection of the roman ways and a reversion to previous methods. But why did this seem to happen everywhere?

All documents were copied manually in those days, and literacy rates were generally low.