Thursday, December 18, 2008

And Yet . . . There It Is

Take a step back in time for a moment. Close your eyes and travel back over 2,000 years. What does your mind conjure up?

What were the people like back then? What type of things did they think about? What concepts did they understand and what technology was available to them?

Remember, this is a time centuries before the great sailing ships of England, Spain, Portugal, and France. The telescope had not been invented yet, steam & combustion engines were unknown, flight was impossible by any means, and the industrial revolution was not even a faint spark on a distant horizon. Even the Black Plague was still centuries away.

What do you see in your mind as you think about this time period? What were the people who lived in this period really capable of doing?

Now watch this 3 minute video: 2000-year-old computer recreated

Does it shake up your existing perceptions a little? The device is called the Antikythera mechanism, and it’s fascinating because it was made about 1,800 years before the technology & knowledge to build it were known. Think about that for a second; It’s not even supposed to exist.

And yet . . .


No comments: