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The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

scientificamerican.com

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Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#91

Post by bsenftner »

lisper wrote: post #55
kingcharles wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think any of those events will come to pass, but I suspect you might live long enough to see The Singularity arrive, and that might be the harbinger of doom you are seeking.

One could argue that this has already happened: social media is the singularity. The evil AI doesn't have to be implemented entirely in silicon. Indeed, that fact that it runs in part on human brains helps it remain stealthy.

Now that is an interesting take - are you thinking an emergent hive mind is in social media, and that is controlling society? Quite interesting...

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#92

Post by short12 »

FooHentai wrote: post #39
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.…

>If you were to send a time capsule forward with the recipes to remake our modern world, including eUV technology. How would you do it? Acknowledging that I'm being edgy here... "What do you get the man who has everything? Might I suggest a gravestone inscribed with the words: so what?” — Simon Munnery I think I probably just wouldn't do it. In part because I suspect the main motivation is our existential angst more…

Or a copy of ozymandias?

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#93

Post by marcosdumay »

xyzzyz wrote: post #82
marcosdumay wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They had nothing like the Modern age's science. I can't imagine any reason for it not appearing there given enough time, but they didn't have the dispassionate questioning of every theory and total submission to empiricism that are fundamental to science today. Math advanced a huge amount during the Medieval age. They simply didn't have good tools for calculations, and nearly all of the Modern Age's math was based on…

You are giving way too much credit to science in the early phase of industrial revolution. Science has been extremely important in technological development from late 1800s onwards, but the most critical leaps of late 1700s and early 1800s had little to do with Newton-style science. Instead, they mostly about engineering improvements, combined with a newly widespread social attitude that technology actually can be si…

Having forces defined as a quantifiable concept that you can easily predict is quite important for tooling and creating reproducible machines. The Mechanics is quite important for mechanical engineering.

Yes, those engineers were inventing most things by themselves, but they didn't work in a vacuum.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#94

Post by brchr »

dghughes wrote: post #80
jaggederest wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of his videos are behind a Patreon paywall these days, as far as I can tell. He's still working on the Antikythera mechanism, it's just only visible to patrons.

Patreon has gone from helpful support by a few to an exclusive club.

For the donation of a single dollar, you are given access to all of his videos. I would not describe that as "exclusive," although I understand what you are saying.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#95

Post by istinetz »

JohnBooty wrote: post #59
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.…

Another renaissance to recreate our civilization from our published work would be nearly impossible. Or, take centuries to accomplish. It might not be possible at all. We've long since used up the "easy" sources of energy on this planet - all of the fossil fuels conveniently located near the earth's surface have long been depleted. By the time they could possibly be replenished, the Sun will be nearing the end of its…

>By the time they could possibly be replenished, the Sun will be nearing the end of its life.

What? No. You're making shit up and passing it as fact.

>Most anthracite and bituminous coals occur within the 299- to 359.2-million-year-old strata of the Carboniferous Period, the so-called first coal age.

>Astronomers estimate that the sun has about 7 billion to 8 billion years left before it sputters out and dies.

There are several other completely made up things in your post.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#96

Post by xyzzyz »

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.…

Or, even better documented, the civilizational collapse in the aftermath of the fall of Western Roman Empire. It recovered in the second half of the medieval period, but in the West, the first few centuries after the fall were truly Dark Ages indeed.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#97

Post by ecpottinger »

lisper wrote: post #55
kingcharles wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think any of those events will come to pass, but I suspect you might live long enough to see The Singularity arrive, and that might be the harbinger of doom you are seeking.

One could argue that this has already happened: social media is the singularity. The evil AI doesn't have to be implemented entirely in silicon. Indeed, that fact that it runs in part on human brains helps it remain stealthy.

And explains why it is also so messed up at the same time.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#98

Post by lisper »

bsenftner wrote: post #91
lisper wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One could argue that this has already happened: social media is the singularity. The evil AI doesn't have to be implemented entirely in silicon. Indeed, that fact that it runs in part on human brains helps it remain stealthy.

Now that is an interesting take - are you thinking an emergent hive mind is in social media, and that is controlling society? Quite interesting...

More or less. Human brains are an emergent property of a large number of highly interconnected neurons, so I see no reason something similar couldn't emerge from a large number of highly interconnected brains.

But the thing to keep in mind is that this emergent thing is not necessarily conscious or intentional, but if it reaches the point where it self-replicates then it becomes effectively a life form that starts to undergo Darwinian evolution and thus becomes very difficult to get rid of. The point is that all this is (potentially) just a straightforward consequence of the laws of physics, not some sci-fi super-villain going "Bwahahaha! Silly humans!" in the back of data center somewhere.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#99

Post by ecpottinger »

asdff wrote: post #85
JohnBooty wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another renaissance to recreate our civilization from our published work would be nearly impossible. Or, take centuries to accomplish. It might not be possible at all. We've long since used up the "easy" sources of energy on this planet - all of the fossil fuels conveniently located near the earth's surface have long been depleted. By the time they could possibly be replenished, the Sun will be nearing the end of its…

Couldn't you just burn plastic directly? Mine a landfill and burn it up.

Mine it with slave labour to separate the items, and you end up with glass, metals and plastics is amounts that would be worth a fortune to a roman level civilization.

We think of it as garbage, bur that garbage already represents a lot of energy already used to process them to that level.

Re: The Antikythera mechanism reveals new secrets

#100

Post by wombatmobile »

dghughes wrote: post #80
jaggederest wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of his videos are behind a Patreon paywall these days, as far as I can tell. He's still working on the Antikythera mechanism, it's just only visible to patrons.

Patreon has gone from helpful support by a few to an exclusive club.

> an exclusive club

The club is affordable. What makes it exclusive is the intellectual alignment required to unlock the value of the information. Not everyone has that. If you have it, consider joining the club while you are still alive so you can enjoy the benefits of membership and fraternity with people like you. After that brief period expires, the club will be truly exclusive for a long time.

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