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The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

scientificamerican.com

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Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#191

Post by antocv »

lisper wrote: post #122
antocv wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Havent you noticed that people who see dark future post and tell it more often the past 30 years, than people who think "it will all be just fine"? I remember the late 90s doom and "oh no millenium 2000" gloom predictions, and 2012 nostradamus end of the world maya calendar the end is near. I read about the 80s cold war "will go hot nuclear any time" and can be seen in movies like Terminator. US will not collapse, no…

I was pretty optimistic in 1990, but since then there is new data. Donald Trump was elected president and led a violent insurrection against the government based on a transparent lie with, so far, no negative consequences. If he runs in 2024 he will win the Republican nomination. Unless the Democrats suspend the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation, he will almost certainly be elected president again (because…

> Donald Trump was elected president

Oh no, the end of the world is upon us, how could the people chose _that_ kind of guy as president. The people where meant to chouse _our_ woman it was _her_ turn.

Ironic really, you are scared of democracy ending yet as main reason why, because democracy worked.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#192

Post by Someone »

amznbyebyebye wrote: post #70

The 19 year Metonic cycle is interesting. I think it is also the orbital period of the moons nodes (aka dragon head/tail or north node/south node or rahu/Ketu in Indian astronomy). I wonder if there is a connection.

The Metonic cycle likely is the connection. No matter where you are on earth, if you start tracking the years (from the repetition of the seasons) and months (from the lunar phases), you’ll noticed the location of the moon (and, hence, eclipses) repeats itself after 19 years (it’s “almost repeats”, but discovering that takes either over a lifetime of observations or fairly precise measurements and trust in them)

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#193

Post by lisper »

antocv wrote: post #191
lisper wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was pretty optimistic in 1990, but since then there is new data. Donald Trump was elected president and led a violent insurrection against the government based on a transparent lie with, so far, no negative consequences. If he runs in 2024 he will win the Republican nomination. Unless the Democrats suspend the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation, he will almost certainly be elected president again (because…

> Donald Trump was elected president Oh no, the end of the world is upon us, how could the people chose _that_ kind of guy as president. The people where meant to chouse _our_ woman it was _her_ turn. Ironic really, you are scared of democracy ending yet as main reason why, because democracy worked.

You left out the important part: Trump incited a violent insurrection against the government based on a transparent lie with, so far, no negative consequences.

Trump's election was not a failure of democracy, merely a failure of common sense among the electorate. The failure of democracy began when Trump tried to get the secretary of state of Georgia to "find 11,000 votes". It continues now that he is successfully promulgating the Big Lie. It will be complete when he is "re-elected" in 2024.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#194

Post by FpUser »

pohl wrote: post #189
FpUser wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Who knows what could happen with them." Same as with the democratic government. Dictators are not suicidal. They prefer to be left alone.

Tell the people of Ukraine right now how much Putin wants to be left alone.

I do appreciate your concern about Ukraine but this has nothing to do with Russia being against nuclear proliferation. If it wanted to it would have zero problems seeding those all over the places.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#195

Post by amznbyebyebye »

Someone wrote: post #192
amznbyebyebye wrote: post #70

The 19 year Metonic cycle is interesting. I think it is also the orbital period of the moons nodes (aka dragon head/tail or north node/south node or rahu/Ketu in Indian astronomy). I wonder if there is a connection.

The Metonic cycle likely is the connection. No matter where you are on earth, if you start tracking the years (from the repetition of the seasons) and months (from the lunar phases), you’ll noticed the location of the moon (and, hence, eclipses) repeats itself after 19 years (it’s “almost repeats”, but discovering that takes either over a lifetime of observations or fairly precise measurements and trust in them)

Wow thanks, this is so fascinating

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#196

Post by imoverclocked »

ahonhn wrote: post #171
imoverclocked wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it to be a good reminder that whatever complexity we have managed to create today likely won't last for 1000s or even 100s of years. We initially didn't believe that precision gears were possible for the time period this device comes from. Sometimes I think about how I might present a progression from electricity and transistors to fully functional computers for a future society that somehow lost the knowledge…

The ancients called this device a "Nokia 3310". While it looks a lot like our newest Fartalkers this is almost certainly mere coincidence. The idea ancient humans had developed anything like unwired-electromagnetics is laughable. More likely the object served some religious purpose though we can only speculate on the type of ceremonies it may have been used in.

There is recent evidence that as the end of the civilization drew nearer, the ancients fruitlessly increased the frequency and duration with which they performed these ceremonies. When coupled with geologic records, it's likely that famine and increasing tide levels had something to do with the increase of these ceremonies.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#197

Post by imoverclocked »

FpUser wrote: post #184
imoverclocked wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[1] "Preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction is traditionally a top priority of U.S. foreign policy." I didn't say anything about Russia. [1] https://www.nti.org/countries/united-states/

Your post reads as the US is the only one working on NPT. It is not. As for your reference - US based and owned org is of course totally unbiased. Color me surprised.

I would differentiate "one body" from "the one body" or "the only body." While I didn't explicitly state, "one of many," that was the implied intent.

Another example of similar usage is, "I am one person." This statement does not imply I am the only person. Rather, it eludes to the fact that there are others.

This is just a guess but, while looking through my post and these responses, it appears to me that you are politically charged and might be reading with a heavy confirmation bias. I welcome evidence to the contrary of any of my points. So far, I've only seen conjecture.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#198

Post by cryptonector »

joshspankit wrote: post #188
chrisbrandow wrote: post #126

This detailed description and his musings make me further convinced that if high quality clear glass technology had been created at this time, human history and discovery could have been profoundly different. Eyeglasses, telescopes, and microscopes would have allowed the Greeks to take discovery to the next level. Surely that’s an oversimplification, but I always wonder.

There are some rather compelling theories positing that ancient Egyptians discovered how they could make a type of glass that they moulded in to a lens at least 5M in diameter. At that size, the focused light from the sun gets hot enough to melt granite (among other things). I thin you’re right that they likely would not have had the clarity to make those smaller optics useful, but it feels interesting enough to add…

Got any links for this? I'd like to know more.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#199

Post by cryptonector »

areoform wrote: post #24

The Antikythera mechanism gives me nightmares. Just as the suggestion that a lack of transmissions from intelligent life means the existence of a great filter. The Antikythera mechanism is a strong indicator of technological regression in human beings. Perhaps more terrifying is the fact that it is not the first time we've regressed or collapsed. The mysterious Late Bronze Age Collapse is another example, https://en.…

Some of my friends believe the covid vaccines are part of a depopulation scheme. If they're right then the collapse of our civilization would be happening right now though we might not be conscious of it yet.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#200

Post by FpUser »

imoverclocked wrote: post #197
FpUser wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your post reads as the US is the only one working on NPT. It is not. As for your reference - US based and owned org is of course totally unbiased. Color me surprised.

I would differentiate "one body" from "the one body" or "the only body." While I didn't explicitly state, "one of many," that was the implied intent. Another example of similar usage is, "I am one person." This statement does not imply I am the only person. Rather, it eludes to the fact that there are others. This is just a guess but, while looking through my post and these responses, it appears to me that you are po…

>"one of many," that was the implied intent.

Well I've failed to see the implication but this might be my fault as English is not my first language. If you truly meant "one of many" then we have nothing to argue about. Hence no need to label me being as politically charged.

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