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Isn't this a little hyperbolic? Go back to the 1920s and try and find a way to gain knowledge on something accessible but uncommon, like how to make glass. Woul
by Eisenstein 3y ago
Isn't this a little hyperbolic? Go back to the 1920s and try and find a way to gain knowledge on something accessible but uncommon, like how to make glass. Would you have been able to do it without finding someone who knew already and would teach you? It is a relatively short chapter in our history that we have had access to such a large amount of information easily.
- nostrademons 3y agoRight, and I worry that this is the apogee of human knowledge and we're going to start a steep downhill slide relatively soon.
- kwhitefoot 3y ago> Would you have been able to do it without finding someone who knew already Yes. Encyclopedias of the day had a lot of this sort of information and so did DIY books. I have a copy of Everything Within from about 1930 that has chapters on radio. In addition it tells you how to make a rectifier from scratch using just copper sheets and various chemicals. See also, for instance, The Art of Glass-Blowing by T.-P. Danger, 1831 "Artists and Students of the Experimental Sciences will find this work adapted to aid them effectually in the economical preparation of their Apparatus; and persons who would willingly occupy their leisure hours in practising the charming art of working Glass and Enamels with the Blowpipe, but who have hitherto been deterred by the anticipated expense of the instruments, and the imaginary difficulties of the undertaking, are taught herein the simplest, most expeditious, least expensive, and most effectual methods of working Glass into every variety of useful or fanciful device." https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55266 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55266 Not how to make glass I grant you.