3 ms·
It's not impossible, but the mainstream theories such as 'Out of Africa' and most anthropological evidence suggests that the flow was from Africa to Indonesia a
by dekhn 2y ago
It's not impossible, but the mainstream theories such as 'Out of Africa' and most anthropological evidence suggests that the flow was from Africa to Indonesia and Africa to Europe, and not "back from Indonesia". But see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Indonesia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Indonesia and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesia#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesia#History and https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/science/polynesian-ancestry.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/science/polynesian-ancest... as well as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiregional_origin_of_modern_humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiregional_origin_of_modern...
Europe is mostly believed to have been settled via Africa, the Middle East, and Western Asia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_history_of_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_history_of_Europe
(I am absolutely amazed by all the various humanity and technology origins. It's almost as if there is a direct path from the first person who used teeth and fingernails to pry a rock and fiber to make a spear to kill an animal and use its bones to make high quality tools for knapping stone, all the way to the lathe, which was the tool that bootstrapped the industrial revolution).
- lukebuehler 2y agoI've never heard of the idea that the lathe bootstrapped the industrial revolution. Can you say more, and any pointers to read?
- rdlw 2y agoThere's a great Machine Thinking video about the history of the lathe that makes this point: https://youtu.be/djB9oK6pkbA https://youtu.be/djB9oK6pkbA
- dekhn 2y agoI'm not sure there's any really good book that furthers this argument (possibly The Perfectionists or One Good Turn?) but it sort of becomes obvious when you read about Maudsley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Maudslay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Maudslay and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw-cutting_lathe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw-cutting_lathe) and Wilkinson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkinson_(industrialist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkinson_(industrialist) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkinson_(industrialist)#Cannon_boring_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkinson_(industrialist)... the cannon boring machine was what enabled the efficient steam engines which unlocked large mechanical shops (along with high quality cannons), while the lathe enabled precision machine tool making. I am sure many things had to happen around the same time for the revolution but IMHO the lathe was the true linchpin