Where would we be today if The Library at Alexandria... Hadn't Burned

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Warthog912

Golden Member
Jun 17, 2001
1,653
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Scientifically, we would be roughly ~1000 (*edit* maybe the dates are way off, but you STILL get the point) years ahead. Can you imagine the possibilities?

I wonder if Ceasar (corrected) realized at any point in his lifetime how much devastation he caused...

BTW It burned because He ordered his troops to burn the fleet of Cleopatra's (sp) brothers' fleet, which when the wind blew caused the fire to spread.

All of that scientific knowledge... gone-

It's incredible if you think about it, might be just me though

Nevermind...

 
rudder

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
86
91
Its not like those books contained information on how to make a 4 ghz cpu. We would probably be maybe 10 years ahead technologically.
 
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Warthog912

Golden Member
Jun 17, 2001
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Originally posted by: NuclearNed
~1000 years ahead scientifically? Please step away from the bong.
Click to expand...

By many accounts the library burned between 50 B.C. and 100 A.D., so yeah, that would be roughly ~2000 years. Are you a believer that science didn't exist in it's modern form back then?

Sounds as if someone else NEEDS to hit the bong-
 
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globalcitizen

Senior member
Sep 6, 2004
954
0
0
Originally posted by: Warthog912
Scientifically, we would be roughly ~1000 (*edit* maybe the dates are way off, but you STILL get the point) years ahead. Can you imagine the possibilities?

I wonder if Alexander realized at any point in his lifetime how much devastation he caused...

BTW It burned because He ordered his troops to burn the fleet of Cleopatra's (sp) brothers' fleet, which when the wind blew caused the fire to spread.

All of that scientific knowledge... gone-

It's incredible if you think about it, might be just me though
Click to expand...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria

It was not destroyed by Alexander. Some historians attribute it to Caesar. But most of the modern historians think it was being systematically taken out by the early Christians after the church decided to go on a pagan witch hunt.
 
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sswingle

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2000
7,183
45
91
And no one in the world knew anything, it was all contained in the library, and when it burned, all knowledge was lost, because NO ONE knew a damn thing.

Whatever
 
Amused

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,547
20,262
146
Somebody's been watching Cosmos.

Merely saving the library at that time would not have saved the knowledge within. Religious forces would still have suppressed it as we later fell into the dark ages. It was doomed one way or another.
 
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DaShen

Lifer
Dec 1, 2000
10,710
1
0
They have ancient stories of asian doctors performing brain surgery back then! And Alexandria was a technology commerce at the time.

Da Vinci only had about 25% of his work survive and only now are doctors starting to take notice to some of the things he discovered that we have only recently discovered about the heart and nervous system.

It set us back quite a bit. But then on the other hand, those wars and harsh times that destroyed those works probably made humans more adaptable as well, so I don't know.
 
NuclearNed

NuclearNed

Raconteur
May 18, 2001
7,887
383
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Originally posted by: Warthog912
Originally posted by: NuclearNed
~1000 years ahead scientifically? Please step away from the bong.
Click to expand...

By many accounts the library burned between 50 B.C. and 100 A.D., so yeah, that would be roughly ~2000 years. Are you a believer that science didn't exist in it's modern form back then?

Sounds as if someone else NEEDS to hit the bong-
Click to expand...

What are you suggesting was lost? It sounds like you think we would be driving hovercars and teleporting to Venus, but for a little fire a couple thousand years ago.
 
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Billzie7718

Senior member
Sep 2, 2005
649
0
0
The people that wrote the books didn't automatically become dumb when it burned. They still had the same knowledge, it just wasn't as easy to access by other people.

So essentially you are saying "What if they had easy access to info like we do today?" ???
 
NuclearNed

NuclearNed

Raconteur
May 18, 2001
7,887
383
126
Originally posted by: DaShen
They have ancient stories of asian doctors performing brain surgery back then! And Alexandria was a technology commerce at the time.

Da Vinci only had about 25% of his work survive and only now are doctors starting to take notice to some of the things he discovered that we have only recently discovered about the heart and nervous system.

It set us back quite a bit. But then on the other hand, those wars and harsh times that destroyed those works probably made humans more adaptable as well, so I don't know.
Click to expand...

There is strong tangible evidence that cavemen also performed brain surgery to alleviate headaches. That doesn't mean that they knew anything other than how to drill a hole in the skull, thereby releasing evil spirits and killing the patient.
 
D

DaShen

Lifer
Dec 1, 2000
10,710
1
0
There was a lot of medical knowledge probably lost, philosophical knowledge, masonry technology that we still haven't figured out...

A lot of the medical knowledge that wasn't destroyed, we have just began to discover in the past 100 years.

I would say we would be ahead in those technologies for sure.
 
NuclearNed

NuclearNed

Raconteur
May 18, 2001
7,887
383
126
Originally posted by: DaShen
There was a lot of medical knowledge probably lost, philosophical knowledge, masonry technology that we still haven't figured out...

A lot of the medical knowledge that wasn't destroyed, we have just began to discover in the past 100 years.

I would say we would be ahead in those technologies for sure.
Click to expand...

I've been wrong before, and I'll be wrong again. That said, I'm really skeptical that the 1st two statements have any value other than being your own opinion. A link that backs up your statement would go a long way to making me a believer.
 
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PunDogg

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2002
4,529
1
0
There are many many libraries/ collections of books and knowledge that many differant people/organizations destroyed. The church did soooo much of it, Caeser, i mean you know it most EMPIRES, burned or destoryed the other peoples history and knowledge.

Dogg
 
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Mucho

Guest
Oct 20, 2001
8,231
2
0
Originally posted by: Feldenak
Originally posted by: globalcitizen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria
Click to expand...

Oh, how I hate Wikipedia. It sucks me in like the Discovery channel until I get to the point I forgot what originally took me there. :)
Click to expand...

I am not a fan of wikipedia either I think there is lots of spam and people who writes article with axe to grind.

BTW there is no point in argueing about "what if"
 
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