The Greek philosoper Hero of Alexandria actually invented something close to a steam engine in the 1st century BE [1]. Whenever I think about "obvious" inventions which happened quite late in our civilization, I remember "The road not taken", a fantastic short story that plays with this idea. [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken_(short_stor...
Why wasn't the steam engine invented earlier? Part II
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Re: Why wasn't the steam engine invented earlier? Part II
#312To me the most surprising thing about this series is that de Caus had a working CSP (concentrated solar power) setup by 01615 ( https://antonhowes.substack.com/i/57230676/solar-powered-ste... , original source https://archive.org/details/raisonsdesforce00Caus ). I had thought CSP only dated to Shuman's installation in Egypt in 01913, but I see that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrated_solar_power#Histo... also…
Not to be outdone, we had solar thermo photovoltaics in the early 1900s https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2021/10/how-to-build-a-low...
It's an interesting speculation, but it might not be correct. In particular, the subhead about how it might have been highly efficient is crucial to its potential usefulness, but the highest efficiency number claimed is 5%, less than a quarter of current mainstream PV, and an eighth the efficiency of current lab PV. And the "thermo" part seems like it was a red herring.
How efficient is such a device? If Cove's device was 20% efficient it was an unheralded breakthrough, though a toxic one, unlike modern silicon solar panels (contrary to a false statement in the article), and made with relatively expensive materials (antimony isn't just poisonous, it also costs US$11/kg). If it was 2% efficient, it might have been viable in a few niche uses. If it was 0.2% or 0.02% efficient, it was a laboratory curiosity. The article says Cove's prototypes were 2.75% efficient and 5% efficient, producing 45 watts from 1.5m² and 60 watts from 1.125m² respectively, which I calculate as 3% and 5.3% efficient, respectively. But it also says the guy went to jail for a year for defrauding his investors.
But apparently nobody has been able to reproduce Cove's results in the last century.
If you do want to, as the article says, "build low-tech photovoltaic devices, which convert sunlight into electricity", you can get about 1% efficiency out of red copper oxide, another toxic semiconductor like the zinc antimonide intermetallic erroneously described as an alloy in the article; this is a common science fair project for kids, and Wilhelm Hallwachs demonstrated solar panels using this chemistry in 01904, the same year as Cove's first experiments. Toshiba managed to get thin-film red copper oxide PV panels past 8% efficiency last year.
Re: Why wasn't the steam engine invented earlier? Part II
#313Earlier quoted context omitted.
Slaves did many skilled labor jobs back in the day. In Uncle Tom's Cabin (a book you really should read, but beware the purpose was to make you pick up your gun and march, so if you have those tendencies...) on of the important slaves held a good factory job. Of course most slaves were just hard labor, but they did hold other positions. I think you can find examples of slaves holding every position in society other t…
I think the point is more that you can't give a slave a truck with a tank of gas and expect to see either again.
Those septic trucks in dubai are surely not driven by arabs.
Re: Why wasn't the steam engine invented earlier? Part II
#314Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then, I would propose that we refer to computational AI and noncomputational AI. Because a control cycle is absolutely what AI is—and yes, it is much older than we think. See Chapter 1 of “Artificial Intelligence: a Modern Approach”
No it’s not, otherwise we wouldn’t have a new term for what a thermostat has been doing forever. Just look at the Wikipedia definition for a basic start on artificial intelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence
Um, no. First: thermostats haven’t been around forever (they were popularized by Mark Honeywell in 1906, of Honeywell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_C._Honeywell). Second: autopilot wasn’t invented until 1914 (before computers). Third: the Wikipedia article you refer to totally aligns with what I’m claiming:
“An intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success. Any system that has goal-directed behavior can be analyzed as an intelligent agent: something as simple as a thermostat, as complex as a human being, as well as large systems such as firms, biomes or nations. The intelligent agent paradigm became widely accepted during the 1990s, and currently serves as the definition of the field.”
Re: Why wasn't the steam engine invented earlier? Part II
#315Arguably, the steam engine is a form of artificial intelligence. At least with Watt’s engine, the “governor” plays an essential information processing role in modulating the pressure. Sensing and reacting to keep a measured value in an optimal range is pretty much the definition of AI (see Norvig’s definition of intelligence). Autopilot is another example of non-computational AI (autopilot was invented in 1914).
Cybernetics. That's the term you're looking for, not AI. The governor is a control system.
I’d love to try to see a definition of AI that doesn’t completely overlap with Cybernetics. How do you define AI?