I was in math class looking at my Ti-89 and thinking about how my father has spoken of his old friend who bought a simple 16 button calculator in schhool long ago for a horendus amount, it was huge, and could only do the most basic functions, and even then took a few seconds to spit out and answer. Then he mentions how the same features can be found in a 99 cent (and yet, still over priced) solar powered calculator today.
Anyways, I was looking at the nice, but by no means amazing Ti-89 and thinking about how this guy would have liked this calculator back then. I'm sure we've all thought about the whole sending technology back in time idea.
Anyways, my hypothetical question is.
How long back would you have to go for our current technology to be complete mis-understood.
With the Ti-89:
- A cave man who doesn't even know what numbers are probably wouldn't even take interest in it, and just smash it with a rock or something.
- Egyptions would probably notice it's weird screen, and un-natural materials. I doubt they could figure out what it all means. They'd probably worship it and then burry it in a piramid with some corpse missing all its organs.
- The romans may have been able to figure out it's more basic functions.
- Mid-evil times; well, romans were smarter than they were... LOL.
- Give it to aristotle or socraties and they'd probably eventually figure quit a bit out about its math abilities, and may even try to disect it, but would quickly notice it's engineering is beyond their ability. They may even have a small grasp of how it physically works.
- Give it to the scientist in the Apollo program and they'd understand it, and may even in a few years manage to replicate it, launching a huge breakthough in science. Bah ha, take that you Russians!
Anyways, you get the point.
The question:
How far in the future can a civilization understand technology? (Wow, this is a hard question to phrase.) Umm... How many years back would we need to go before our technology is completely beyond the understanding of the people. And if we received tech from the future, how far in the future would be to much for us to understand?
Anyways, I was looking at the nice, but by no means amazing Ti-89 and thinking about how this guy would have liked this calculator back then. I'm sure we've all thought about the whole sending technology back in time idea.
Anyways, my hypothetical question is.
How long back would you have to go for our current technology to be complete mis-understood.
With the Ti-89:
- A cave man who doesn't even know what numbers are probably wouldn't even take interest in it, and just smash it with a rock or something.
- Egyptions would probably notice it's weird screen, and un-natural materials. I doubt they could figure out what it all means. They'd probably worship it and then burry it in a piramid with some corpse missing all its organs.
- The romans may have been able to figure out it's more basic functions.
- Mid-evil times; well, romans were smarter than they were... LOL.
- Give it to aristotle or socraties and they'd probably eventually figure quit a bit out about its math abilities, and may even try to disect it, but would quickly notice it's engineering is beyond their ability. They may even have a small grasp of how it physically works.
- Give it to the scientist in the Apollo program and they'd understand it, and may even in a few years manage to replicate it, launching a huge breakthough in science. Bah ha, take that you Russians!
Anyways, you get the point.
The question:
How far in the future can a civilization understand technology? (Wow, this is a hard question to phrase.) Umm... How many years back would we need to go before our technology is completely beyond the understanding of the people. And if we received tech from the future, how far in the future would be to much for us to understand?
Facebook
Twitter