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'Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt - Christopher Dunn'

Started by DeusExMachina, August 26, 2010, 12:33:58 PM

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Doktor Howl

Quote from: Iptuous on August 27, 2010, 06:44:41 PM
i don't recall that the book postulates anything about aliens.....

Okay, time travellers with machine tools and generators.   :lulz:
Molon Lube

Don Coyote

I remember a time when the History channel had history on it. A time when the discovery channel had educational programs, instead of reality tv.

Doktor Howl

Quote from: Secret Level on August 27, 2010, 06:53:08 PM
I remember a time when the History channel had history on it. A time when the discovery channel had educational programs, instead of reality tv.

I remember when MTV played videos all day, NO COMMERCIALS.

It lasted for about a month.
Molon Lube

Bebek Sincap Ratatosk

If this is the same guy I saw on Discover, he was mostly just arguing that the Ancient Civilizations likely had a lot better tech than we give them credit for. The Antikythera mechanism provides evidence that this is true at least for BC era Greece. It not unreasonable to think that maybe ancient people had figured out some useful stuff... a Giant Power Station, maybe a bit more than we can reasonably be expected to believe... but cool stone cutting tools/procedures that we no longer know about? Well, maybe.

- I don't see race. I just see cars going around in a circle.

"Back in my day, crazy meant something. Now everyone is crazy" - Charlie Manson

Doktor Howl

Quote from: Ratatosk on August 27, 2010, 06:56:41 PM
If this is the same guy I saw on Discover, he was mostly just arguing that the Ancient Civilizations likely had a lot better tech than we give them credit for. The Antikythera mechanism provides evidence that this is true at least for BC era Greece. It not unreasonable to think that maybe ancient people had figured out some useful stuff... a Giant Power Station, maybe a bit more than we can reasonably be expected to believe... but cool stone cutting tools/procedures that we no longer know about? Well, maybe.



And a mill.  A big fucking CNC Bridgeport bastard, with a full set of bits.
Molon Lube

Bebek Sincap Ratatosk

Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 27, 2010, 07:02:12 PM
Quote from: Ratatosk on August 27, 2010, 06:56:41 PM
If this is the same guy I saw on Discover, he was mostly just arguing that the Ancient Civilizations likely had a lot better tech than we give them credit for. The Antikythera mechanism provides evidence that this is true at least for BC era Greece. It not unreasonable to think that maybe ancient people had figured out some useful stuff... a Giant Power Station, maybe a bit more than we can reasonably be expected to believe... but cool stone cutting tools/procedures that we no longer know about? Well, maybe.



And a mill.  A big fucking CNC Bridgeport bastard, with a full set of bits.


:lulz:
- I don't see race. I just see cars going around in a circle.

"Back in my day, crazy meant something. Now everyone is crazy" - Charlie Manson

Elder Iptuous

exactly.  that's what i remember getting out of the book.
and even as far as the power plant notion, he made it clear that that was just his best guess, and i recall the evidence of that being pretty scant.  it's just a good hook.
it was primarily just a commentary that this doesn't appear to have been made with the rudimentary tools that are commonly attributed to it....
I see no reason to doubt that human technology has made significant inroads, and then retreats over the course of our history.
but it does make an easy target to lump in with Zecharia Sitchin type stuff...

Don Coyote

Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 27, 2010, 07:02:12 PM
Quote from: Ratatosk on August 27, 2010, 06:56:41 PM
If this is the same guy I saw on Discover, he was mostly just arguing that the Ancient Civilizations likely had a lot better tech than we give them credit for. The Antikythera mechanism provides evidence that this is true at least for BC era Greece. It not unreasonable to think that maybe ancient people had figured out some useful stuff... a Giant Power Station, maybe a bit more than we can reasonably be expected to believe... but cool stone cutting tools/procedures that we no longer know about? Well, maybe.



And a mill.  A big fucking CNC Bridgeport bastard, with a full set of bits.

I kinda like Haas, but Bridgeport make bang up manual mills.




And...I just forgot all the G-codes I ever knew...

Doktor Howl

Quote from: Iptuous on August 27, 2010, 07:04:17 PM
exactly.  that's what i remember getting out of the book.
and even as far as the power plant notion, he made it clear that that was just his best guess, and i recall the evidence of that being pretty scant.  it's just a good hook.
it was primarily just a commentary that this doesn't appear to have been made with the rudimentary tools that are commonly attributed to it....
I see no reason to doubt that human technology has made significant inroads, and then retreats over the course of our history.
but it does make an easy target to lump in with Zecharia Sitchin type stuff...

Well, I'd expect to come across some artifacts.  Things like that leave traces, and shit doesn't rust in a desert unless you make it rust.  Even if it DID rust, something would be left.

Humans were MORE clever, IMO, before they had this much technology, because they HAD to be.  Not more intelligent, just more innovative with the tools they had.

If you or I were transported back to ancient Egypt, we'd be utterly useless, because we wouldn't have the tools to make the tools that we rely on each and every day.
Molon Lube

Don Coyote

Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 27, 2010, 07:11:26 PM
Quote from: Iptuous on August 27, 2010, 07:04:17 PM
exactly.  that's what i remember getting out of the book.
and even as far as the power plant notion, he made it clear that that was just his best guess, and i recall the evidence of that being pretty scant.  it's just a good hook.
it was primarily just a commentary that this doesn't appear to have been made with the rudimentary tools that are commonly attributed to it....
I see no reason to doubt that human technology has made significant inroads, and then retreats over the course of our history.
but it does make an easy target to lump in with Zecharia Sitchin type stuff...

Well, I'd expect to come across some artifacts.  Things like that leave traces, and shit doesn't rust in a desert unless you make it rust.  Even if it DID rust, something would be left.

Humans were MORE clever, IMO, before they had this much technology, because they HAD to be.  Not more intelligent, just more innovative with the tools they had.

If you or I were transported back to ancient Egypt, we'd be utterly useless, because we wouldn't have the tools to make the tools that we rely on each and every day.


And, especially with the Egyptians and their whole "lets shove all kind of crap in this important person's tomb so he has that shit in the afterlife", would have preserved this mysterious super tech.

Doktor Howl

Quote from: Secret Level on August 27, 2010, 07:13:34 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 27, 2010, 07:11:26 PM
Quote from: Iptuous on August 27, 2010, 07:04:17 PM
exactly.  that's what i remember getting out of the book.
and even as far as the power plant notion, he made it clear that that was just his best guess, and i recall the evidence of that being pretty scant.  it's just a good hook.
it was primarily just a commentary that this doesn't appear to have been made with the rudimentary tools that are commonly attributed to it....
I see no reason to doubt that human technology has made significant inroads, and then retreats over the course of our history.
but it does make an easy target to lump in with Zecharia Sitchin type stuff...

Well, I'd expect to come across some artifacts.  Things like that leave traces, and shit doesn't rust in a desert unless you make it rust.  Even if it DID rust, something would be left.

Humans were MORE clever, IMO, before they had this much technology, because they HAD to be.  Not more intelligent, just more innovative with the tools they had.

If you or I were transported back to ancient Egypt, we'd be utterly useless, because we wouldn't have the tools to make the tools that we rely on each and every day.


And, especially with the Egyptians and their whole "lets shove all kind of crap in this important person's tomb so he has that shit in the afterlife", would have preserved this mysterious super tech.

Grain in baskets.
Gold in boxes.
Chariot in antechamber.
Cell phone in sarcophagus.
Molon Lube

Bebek Sincap Ratatosk

Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 27, 2010, 07:11:26 PM

Well, I'd expect to come across some artifacts.  Things like that leave traces, and shit doesn't rust in a desert unless you make it rust.  Even if it DID rust, something would be left.

Humans were MORE clever, IMO, before they had this much technology, because they HAD to be.  Not more intelligent, just more innovative with the tools they had.




If you or I were transported back to ancient Egypt, we'd be utterly useless, because we wouldn't have the tools to make the tools that we rely on each and every day.


That's true... but remember we had no evidence that Antikythera existed until we found a complete one at the bottom of the sea. Where were the other ones like it? the spare parts? Dunno... maybe they are just waiting to be uncovered, maybe they got melted down and re-purposed, or maybe they don't exist and Antikythera was a one of a kind thing...

I don't believe that the ancients had advanced technology, but I think its possible that they had tools, procedures etc that are better than we currently believe.
- I don't see race. I just see cars going around in a circle.

"Back in my day, crazy meant something. Now everyone is crazy" - Charlie Manson

Don Coyote

Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 27, 2010, 07:15:57 PM
Quote from: Secret Level on August 27, 2010, 07:13:34 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 27, 2010, 07:11:26 PM
Quote from: Iptuous on August 27, 2010, 07:04:17 PM
exactly.  that's what i remember getting out of the book.
and even as far as the power plant notion, he made it clear that that was just his best guess, and i recall the evidence of that being pretty scant.  it's just a good hook.
it was primarily just a commentary that this doesn't appear to have been made with the rudimentary tools that are commonly attributed to it....
I see no reason to doubt that human technology has made significant inroads, and then retreats over the course of our history.
but it does make an easy target to lump in with Zecharia Sitchin type stuff...

Well, I'd expect to come across some artifacts.  Things like that leave traces, and shit doesn't rust in a desert unless you make it rust.  Even if it DID rust, something would be left.

Humans were MORE clever, IMO, before they had this much technology, because they HAD to be.  Not more intelligent, just more innovative with the tools they had.

If you or I were transported back to ancient Egypt, we'd be utterly useless, because we wouldn't have the tools to make the tools that we rely on each and every day.


And, especially with the Egyptians and their whole "lets shove all kind of crap in this important person's tomb so he has that shit in the afterlife", would have preserved this mysterious super tech.

Grain in baskets.
Gold in boxes.
Chariot in antechamber.
Cell phone in sarcophagus.
:lulz:

I was more thinking models of craftsmen/slaves with the tools of their trade.

Elder Iptuous

Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 27, 2010, 07:11:26 PM
Well, I'd expect to come across some artifacts.  Things like that leave traces, and shit doesn't rust in a desert unless you make it rust.  Even if it DID rust, something would be left.

Humans were MORE clever, IMO, before they had this much technology, because they HAD to be.  Not more intelligent, just more innovative with the tools they had.

If you or I were transported back to ancient Egypt, we'd be utterly useless, because we wouldn't have the tools to make the tools that we rely on each and every day.


Sure. I would think we would come across some artifacts.  Perhaps if archaeologists were looking at ancient sites with the possibility of things being present that they are not currently trained to expect then we would.  I'm not saying this is the case, but a possibility.  This guy said that the marks on the stones are pretty obvious machine tools, but the archaeologists that investigated it completely ignored them because it wasn't on their radar.
Who knows.
As far as things not rusting in the desert, a bunch of the crap that my dad brought back from Iraq when he went over there in the first war was all sorts of rusted out.  I could imagine much of whatever might have existed wouldn't be just laying around anymore.
I just see no reason to be dismissive of the notion that we have had periods of more advanced technology in the past that we credit.  It doesn't seem magical to me at all.

Telarus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery (I go with electroplating as the most plausible possibility, myself)

The greeks also invented the steam engine: http://www.e-telescope.gr/en/history-and-archaeology/132-ancient-technology

The limited communication networks and cultural boundries prevented them from taking it any further.
Telarus, KSC,
.__.  Keeper of the Contradictory Cephalopod, Zenarchist Swordsman,
(0o)  Tender to the Edible Zen Garden, Ratcheting Metallic Sex Doll of The End Times,
/||\   Episkopos of the Amorphous Dreams Cabal

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