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Ok so lately i have been thinking about technology, and i have been seeing that it gets better over certian amounts of time. Now that is what i am asking why does it get better as the earth grows? I mean Mid eval ages they came up with the great war techinques, but why could they not come up with thigns like electriciity? they had all of the same resourcres right? Or like the computer why did it take for ever to make, imagine if it was made in BC time. Please post your thoughts.
Back "then", I don't think they had all of the resources today like we have. It takes time to make things because it takes time to test things out before letting it out to the public. At first the computers weren't even supposed to be publicized, they were made for the Scientists, and the Military (if I can remember correctly). You have to be realistic here, the computer wasn't even thought of in BC time, technology alone probably wasn't thought of until the late 1800's. I guess it's just nature - as time goes on things progress. Remember our cars back in the late 1800's, early 1900'sQuote:
Originally Posted by HotelUnderSeige
http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_edin_t...collection.jpg
Look at the cars we have now. Things progress over time. Another prime example is Cell Phones.
Everything we have now is a derivative of technology from back then. It takes time for things to evolve and progress.
Like Aaron said, we have more resources now meaning theres more ways to do things and experiment
For the same reason we aren't manipulating DNA to grow PCs/robots... yet.
Once the entire DNA structure is known it will most likely be able to program whatever you are growing to become whatever you want. Gone would be the days of illness.
Alas, we don't know how it all fits together yet. Likewise not long ago we had the electricity but didn't know how to spread it around for lighting. The light bulb alone took a long time to create after electricity was created, the building blocks were there we just couldn't fit them together all at once.
Well, you could ask, why don't we invent everything that ever can right now?
We could take simple math for example:
First you have sum, then multiplication and then power. Power is defined upon multiplication, which is defined upon sum. If you only have + -operations, on what logic would you define what 4^7 stands for before you know what multiplication is. How many sums of 4 would you need?
Most technology goes the same way, we just need to take the small steps to eventually get much further. Unfortunately these small steps do seem to take painfully long. :/
edit: removed as misinformation
lol no it wasnt like that at all actually, what the hell are you talking aboutQuote:
Originally Posted by Negata
The computer was in fact "invented" in the 19th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_engine). But the components hadn't been invented yet.
Technology comes faster now because there's a lot more people who's educated now than for 200 years ago. There's also more to invent when the "big" things like electricity has already been invented. How many inventions came from electricity? Had Thomas Edison died as a child, which was normal at the time, it's possible we wouldn't have electric lights today!
Ehm what the hell are you talking about?Quote:
Originally Posted by vannaroth
Everything that was unknown to people was considered witchcraft, they believed it was dark magic and that you were possessed or in service of the devil.
Anyway basicly what you need are the big inventions, you need extremely brilliant minds for that (or atleast in a certain area, as most of those people are crazy in most departments)
Most people think in a logical way, while our current technology improvement is impressive, most of it is just building on a basis that was invented ages ago. Computers been around for ages, they just keep improving it, making it smaller, faster etc etc.
I mean who could think of electricity, to think of ways to transfer it, save it up, using it for something, in a world where there is no such thing, how do you think of that? Hence i said you need extremely brilliant people for it that actually get such a idea, have the means to do something with it and actually get the chance to finish it, because i'm guessing there have been quite a few amazing ideas that never got finished due to circumstances.
I'm talking about this. How uneducated are you not to have had the slightest idea?Quote:
Originally Posted by vannaroth
... but now that I've read through this I realize I've been a victim to these rumors, too... What's worse, I believe I actually got this information from my history teacher... however it does seem like there's some fire by the smoke there after all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wikipedia
Quote:
Originally Posted by Encyclopedia Britannica
lol. No. In the 'early' early Medieval period belief in the existence of Witches and witchcraft was itself against canon law and considered heresy. In some parts you could be put to death if you were found hunting witches because it was considered superstition. There were witch trials here and there, no doubt, but we're talking about really insignificant local cases against uneducated peasants who were found engaging in rituals or wearing satanic iconography or whatever. We are not talking about the inventors or scientists of the time. The type of person who would be accused of witchcraft was ever going to invent the combustion engine, I can guarantee you that.Quote:
Originally Posted by GohanSSJ
Witch hunts don't actually gain prominence until the later medieval period, into early modernity and through the Renaissance period. That's right, the culture most heavily associated with witch hunts is the same culture that gave us da Vinci and Newton. 'Ban on science' haha right. When you talk about the early medieval ages, (that is 'the dark ages' to use the popular terminology), you're talking about the period of history in which the scientific method was invented and the first universities were established. Logic, astronomy, optics, calculus, chemistry, algebra, surgery... all of these things saw huge advancement in the middle ages. People who discovered things were not 'burned as witches'. Haha, the only people with the resources and education to make advancements in the first place tended to be people of importance working way out of the reaches of some gabble of outraged peasants.
There was no 'ban on science' in the medieval age by any stretch and to say otherwise is just foolish and ignores many important developments that happened during that time.
References, please.
I suggest 'God and Reason in the Middle Ages' by Edward Grant as a good start on the topic but it can be hard to find a copy. You might even consider reading some of the writings of the time by the likes of Roger Bacon or others, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's very boring.
Listen, my research isn't the result of some cursory scouring of the internet. The degree I'm studying for is in Medieval and Early Modern history. I've spent countless hours reading and writing on the period. This is one thing I can honestly say I really know about.
Maybe there is a reason for that...Quote:
...but it can be hard to find a copy.
Sure, I don't doubt it's true, just would've liked to read about it myself, although not interested enough to look for a book on the subject.
Isn't medieval and early modern time far from the dark ages, though..