9 ms·

One of the most fascinating books I ever picked up from the library was Ancient Inventions (https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Inventions-Peter-James/dp/0345401026

One of the most fascinating books I ever picked up from the library was Ancient Inventions (https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Inventions-Peter-James/dp/0345401026 https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Inventions-Peter-James/dp/034...), which goes over the details of stuff like this. The historical figure that strikes me as "most likely to be a time traveller" is Archimedes, who designed incredibly advanced machines that destroyed the Roman fleet and protected his home city. Sadly he was accidentally killed during the war. The Romans wanted to capture him and use him for their own purposes. It's possible that could have changed history quite a bit. Heron of Alexandria is another candidate that gets a lot of space in that book. He invented the first steam engine way before his time. But also many other insanely elaborate mechanical devices. Including an entirely mechanical little theater, with mechanical puppets and music. Unfortunately almost all his inventions were for entertainment value only. Sometimes I wonder if the greatest inventor of our time might be applying his work to video game engines.

jbpetersen 10y ago
> Sometimes I wonder if the greatest inventor of our time might be applying his work to video game engines. John Carmack?
- mamon 10y ago
  I vaguely recall reading somewhere that some mathematical formula for Unified Field Theory (or similar physics concept) was originaly derived as a part of a game engine and patented.
  - cokernel 10y ago
    There's a parody article from 2003 talking about this: http://www.bbspot.com/News/2003/12/valve_unified_theory.html http://www.bbspot.com/News/2003/12/valve_unified_theory.html Is that what you had in mind?
jacquesm 10y ago
The Chinese may have had primitive steam engines before Heron of Alexandria: http://tellmewhyfacts.com/First-Steam-Engine-James-Watt http://tellmewhyfacts.com/First-Steam-Engine-James-Watt That doesn't diminish Heron of Alexandria's accomplishments in any way, I highly doubt it was anything else than either an original invention or an independent re-invention. Super interesting historical figure, right up there with Archimedes and Leonardo da Vinci.
- Retric 10y ago
  Tiangong Kaiwu only dates back to 1637, so do you mean it holds references to earlier steam engines? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangong_Kaiwu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangong_Kaiwu
  - jacquesm 10y ago
    Yes, that's what I understood, that it documented ancient machinery.
- xenadu02 10y ago
  More proof that being the first to invent something is overrated. Execution matters as much as invention. I think it also proves how much everyone (the most boot-strappiest included) rely on society and circumstance to provide a favorable environment. Peter Thiel born 10 years earlier or later probably ends up as a nobody. Maybe successful, but certainly not a billionaire.
- theoh 10y ago
  Also, we really should not forget the post-classical but pre-renaissance technologists of the Arab world. e.g. http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/automata-review-exhibition http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/automata-review-exhibi... The "hellenocentric" narrative can inadvertently contribute to bias against other very nearby civilizations that communicated with them and contributed to the technologies. There's an interesting text on parabolas called "On burning mirrors" by Diocles which comes to us only through an Arabic translation: http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1065183.files/Too_1976.pdf http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1065183.files/Too...
dleslie 10y ago
Entertainment is fertile soil for creative invention; it is often an environment which eschews rigid, pattern-based development in favor of creative expression. I've spent a fair amount of time in video game development and in enterprise software; without a doubt, my experience reflects that creative developers are drawn to video games, whereas the few that found their way elsewhere have a sense of being exotic caged animals.
kartan 10y ago
> Unfortunately almost all his inventions were for entertainment value only. I read somewhere that one of the problems in antiquity to develop useful machines was the abundance of slave/captive labor. Why do you want to create a complicated inefficient first version of a machine when you have cheap humans being to do the task?
- Houshalter 10y ago
  Yes that's probably why the industrial revolution didn't happen. There's a good comment below that explains other societal reasons why the industrial revolution didn't happen, like the lack of contract law and investors. I also read a great theory once (but I can't find it again through google!) that the industrial revolution really required the invention of the cannon first. Building an efficient steam engine in roman times would have been incredibly expensive and dangerous, because of their primitive metal technology. The cannon created a tech race between nations to develop more/better/cheaper/lighter cannons. Which resulted in better metal working tech. Once you can make big pieces of metal that can withstand and direct the pressure created from explosions, steam engines aren't too far away. But Heron's invention was still useful, and would have been the fastest moving thing ever built up to that time. Perhaps it could have been adapted to military applications, like flinging tons of rocks really fast at high speed?
  - mturmon 10y ago
    The thing you can't recall in your second paragraph sounds like the sort of "chain of inventions" that James Burke used to explain on the old BBC series Connections. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series) ) See in particular episode 6 in the original 1978 series (just going by the summary on Wikipedia).
    - stinkytaco 10y ago
      I'll chime in here to add The Day the Universe Changed, on PBS. Less "invention" specific and broader, about how certain concepts shifted us. It has also aged better, in my opinion. Connections, especially its last episode, seems rooted in a certain place and time.
api 10y ago
It makes perfect sense that they'd be novelties. Play is creative. It's really harmful to science that it's become so institutional and bureaucratic.
tomdell 10y ago
Unfortunately? Entertainment and art give many people a significant reason to live.
dredmorbius 10y ago
Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China needs mention, though you might not want to buy the whole thing. It was begun in 1954, and now runs 27 separate volumes, with several more still planned. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Civilization_in_China https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Civilization_in_...

jbpetersen 10y ago

> Sometimes I wonder if the greatest inventor of our time might be applying his work to video game engines. John Carmack?

mamon 10y ago
I vaguely recall reading somewhere that some mathematical formula for Unified Field Theory (or similar physics concept) was originaly derived as a part of a game engine and patented.
- cokernel 10y ago
  There's a parody article from 2003 talking about this: http://www.bbspot.com/News/2003/12/valve_unified_theory.html http://www.bbspot.com/News/2003/12/valve_unified_theory.html Is that what you had in mind?

jacquesm 10y ago

The Chinese may have had primitive steam engines before Heron of Alexandria: http://tellmewhyfacts.com/First-Steam-Engine-James-Watt http://tellmewhyfacts.com/First-Steam-Engine-James-Watt That doesn't diminish Heron of Alexandria's accomplishments in any way, I highly doubt it was anything else than either an original invention or an independent re-invention. Super interesting historical figure, right up there with Archimedes and Leonardo da Vinci.

Retric 10y ago
Tiangong Kaiwu only dates back to 1637, so do you mean it holds references to earlier steam engines? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangong_Kaiwu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangong_Kaiwu
- jacquesm 10y ago
  Yes, that's what I understood, that it documented ancient machinery.
xenadu02 10y ago
More proof that being the first to invent something is overrated. Execution matters as much as invention. I think it also proves how much everyone (the most boot-strappiest included) rely on society and circumstance to provide a favorable environment. Peter Thiel born 10 years earlier or later probably ends up as a nobody. Maybe successful, but certainly not a billionaire.
theoh 10y ago
Also, we really should not forget the post-classical but pre-renaissance technologists of the Arab world. e.g. http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/automata-review-exhibition http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/automata-review-exhibi... The "hellenocentric" narrative can inadvertently contribute to bias against other very nearby civilizations that communicated with them and contributed to the technologies. There's an interesting text on parabolas called "On burning mirrors" by Diocles which comes to us only through an Arabic translation: http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1065183.files/Too_1976.pdf http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1065183.files/Too...

dleslie 10y ago

Entertainment is fertile soil for creative invention; it is often an environment which eschews rigid, pattern-based development in favor of creative expression. I've spent a fair amount of time in video game development and in enterprise software; without a doubt, my experience reflects that creative developers are drawn to video games, whereas the few that found their way elsewhere have a sense of being exotic caged animals.

kartan 10y ago

> Unfortunately almost all his inventions were for entertainment value only. I read somewhere that one of the problems in antiquity to develop useful machines was the abundance of slave/captive labor. Why do you want to create a complicated inefficient first version of a machine when you have cheap humans being to do the task?

Houshalter 10y ago
Yes that's probably why the industrial revolution didn't happen. There's a good comment below that explains other societal reasons why the industrial revolution didn't happen, like the lack of contract law and investors. I also read a great theory once (but I can't find it again through google!) that the industrial revolution really required the invention of the cannon first. Building an efficient steam engine in roman times would have been incredibly expensive and dangerous, because of their primitive metal technology. The cannon created a tech race between nations to develop more/better/cheaper/lighter cannons. Which resulted in better metal working tech. Once you can make big pieces of metal that can withstand and direct the pressure created from explosions, steam engines aren't too far away. But Heron's invention was still useful, and would have been the fastest moving thing ever built up to that time. Perhaps it could have been adapted to military applications, like flinging tons of rocks really fast at high speed?
- mturmon 10y ago
  The thing you can't recall in your second paragraph sounds like the sort of "chain of inventions" that James Burke used to explain on the old BBC series Connections. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series) ) See in particular episode 6 in the original 1978 series (just going by the summary on Wikipedia).
  - stinkytaco 10y ago
    I'll chime in here to add The Day the Universe Changed, on PBS. Less "invention" specific and broader, about how certain concepts shifted us. It has also aged better, in my opinion. Connections, especially its last episode, seems rooted in a certain place and time.

api 10y ago

It makes perfect sense that they'd be novelties. Play is creative. It's really harmful to science that it's become so institutional and bureaucratic.

tomdell 10y ago

Unfortunately? Entertainment and art give many people a significant reason to live.

dredmorbius 10y ago

Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China needs mention, though you might not want to buy the whole thing. It was begun in 1954, and now runs 27 separate volumes, with several more still planned. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Civilization_in_China https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Civilization_in_...