Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

Streaming video: Antikythera (http://www.nature.com/nature/videoarchive/antikythera/)

(Also interesting to note the very prominent use of Macintosh)

M

Fascinating, thanks for sharing!

hooolyy

Amazing. "Time well spent" on gaining new knowledge about an item I knew nothing about previous to today. Gracias, mi amigo.

One surprising thing about this video is the suggestion at one point that there is a direct connection between ancient Greek gear technology and developments about 14 centuries later.

My understanding was that everything the Greeks knew on the subject was lost, then independently re-developed later on. That's one reason the Antikythera mechanism is so remarkable: it's much more advanced than any other known mechanical device of its time and raises all sorts of questions about what might have been had that line of technological development not died out or been snuffed out (presumably by Roman conquest).

Anyway, I don't know if there's new evidence of direct connections, or if the suggestion in the video was inadvertent... still an interesting video either way.

Good reading: Dept. of Archeology: Fragmentary Knowledge: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/05/14/070514fa_fact_seabrook)

Still pics, including some models not shown in the video:
Slide Show: Pieces of History: Online Only: The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/online/2007/05/14/slideshow_070514_antikythera)

Imagine what archeologists will make of the early iMacs that are dug up 2000 years from now?

Or more likely, those 2700 Lisas buried in the Utah landfill! :D

Imagine what archeologists will make of the early iMacs that are dug up 2000 years from now?

Dug up? SheepShaver Version 189.0 will still be running OS 9 on them in the year 4008.

iMatt, thanks for the link to that article - very interesting!

....and it's now up and running (http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/2000-year-old-a.html)! Wow!

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In those ancient times and the medieval days they had all sorts of devices like this.

Study alchemy, ancient astrology and cosmology, the occult, and then you will learn about the many lost devices and knowledge the scientists and elite craftsmen created in those days is very impressive.

You and I often disagree about issues closely related to this, but I agree completely with you here. I find it extremely frustrating that modern people so blithely use technology based on principles they couldn't even begin to describe in the most general terms. Even in my own research lab, I have to make a great effort to ensure that my students aren't just mindlessly following recipes "because that's what it says to do in the protocol" but are actually understanding why the procedures work so that when they don't, or when the data is not what we expected, there is some hope of interpreting it correctly.

It's not that I think everyone in modern society should know how to fix a car, or install a new graphics card in their computer. But I do think everyone should know where the energy they use comes from (and what the consequences of it's use are), the general principles of how our economy works, the general principles of information/communications technologies, the general principles of biology/chemistry/physics (along with some understanding of their application to medicine/agriculture/environmental sustainability) etc.

If they did, people like George Bush would never be elected, stores like WalMart would have to change how they operate in order to stay in business, and politicians would have to pursue somewhat realistic agendas with respect to the economy and environment.

Cheers

ah these dreamers...

If they did, people like George Bush would never be elected, stores like WalMart would have to change how they operate in order to stay in business, and politicians would have to pursue somewhat realistic agendas with respect to the economy and environment. ;)

That Greek device blew me away - the machining detail alone was so incredibly far advanced. :eek:

In those ancient times and the medieval days they had all sorts of devices like this.

How about "all sorts" of examples with references? Fact is there were very few such devices, Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones aside.

Excellent movie!

Thanks Mark.

Ancient devices

Here is one

http://www.lauralee.com/news/images/bbc_battery1.gif

Laura Lee News - Riddle of 'Baghdad's Batteries' (http://www.lauralee.com/news/baghdadbatteries.htm)

more here

Ancient Discoveries: Machines of the Gods - showing on The History Channel (http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/tv_guide/full_details/World_history/programme_72.php)

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Perhaps susceibing to some academic anthropology/ history/ archaeology journals? You can search them online in places like www jstor.Com and buy them as you find them.

The technology of the ancients sometimes was marvellous. I have two books on engineering and science before the industrial revolution. They are really interesting.

What really intrigues me is what would life be like today if the Ancient Greeks (Athens not Sparta) or Romans started the industrial revolution? Would we be living in a science fiction wonderland or an energy impoverished world?

I hear the call for better math and science. It often scares me about how ignorant some are about the basic technology that makes our world work.

Perhaps susceibing to some academic anthropology/ history/ archaeology journals? You can search them online in places like www jstor.Com and buy them as you find them.

Before you get too sarcastic, that would be "subscribing" and yes I already do subscribe to a number of learned journals and am published in several others.

What you are talking about is not academics or science - it is either crypto- or pseudo- (respectively, depending on whether you think the stuff is "unknown" or outright fakery) science.

Before you get too sarcastic, that would be "subscribing" and yes I already do subscribe to a number of learned journals and am published in several others.

What you are talking about is not academics or science - it is either crypto- or pseudo- (respectively, depending on whether you think the stuff is "unknown" or outright fakery) science.

I wasn't being sarcastic in the least. I was typing on my iPhone... :o

I don't think things like this machine pseudo anything. It is a historical-anthropological and archaeological interest.

Where are you published and what is your field of interest? I would love to read the work of a fellow ehMac'r.

Where are you published and what is your field of interest? I would love to read the work of a fellow ehMac'r.

Here is one from CMAJ Current and former marijuana use: preliminary findings of a longitudinal study of effects on IQ in young adults -- Fried et al. 166 (7): 887 -- Canadian Medical Association Journal (http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/166/7/887)

In the biblio you'll find references to a bit of our stuff in Neurotoxicology and Teratology among others.

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Kind of funny someone named "Fried" studying the effects of Marijuana. ;)

I was just going to say that..hahaha.

rgray

That is neat. I shall read it in due course.

Kind of funny someone named "Fried" studying the effects of Marijuana. ;)

Yeah... Like we've never heard that one before..... :yawn:

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Must be someone in your research team named "Bong":D

I think it's funny MB...:D

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