5 ms·
"They" had analogue computers [1] and steam turbines [2] two millenia ago. Power hammers a few centuries ago seem pretty mild by comparison. [1] https://en.wik
by mrec 7y ago
"They" had analogue computers [1] and steam turbines [2] two millenia ago. Power hammers a few centuries ago seem pretty mild by comparison.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile
- thfuran 7y agoI don't think I'd really call that a computer any more than I'd call an old watch a computer.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- close04 7y agoThe line is pretty blurry. This (relatively) modern device [0] is a computer although it's probably less complex than some of the ancient ones. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumaresq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumaresq
- adrianN 7y agoMechanical computers for fire control where the standard solution until very recently. Here's a very interesting video about them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4
- stcredzero 7y agoI don't think I'd really call that a computer any more than I'd call an old watch a computer. The some of the targeting computers aboard the USS Iowa worked in part by the same principles. (The Mk 8 Rangekeeper) The continuous control mixing of the XC-142 tiltwing (1960's version of the V-22 Osprey) as it changed from vertical to horizontal mode, was all done with cams, gears, and levers.
- kilo_bravo_3 7y agoAnything that computes is a computer. Even plastic circles with writing on them designed to compute the effects of a nuclear bomb's blast: https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/sliderules/nucbombeffcomp.htm https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/sliderules/nucbombeffcom...
- sansnomme 7y agoThe Aeolipile is notoriously inefficient though.
- LyndsySimon 7y agoI understand it to have been essentially a proof of concept, not something that was intended to provide motive power to a machine. Given that, its simplicity would likely have been more valuable than its efficiency.