Ancient computer!?

Question

There is a two day conference going on in Athens with scientist from all over the world, to talk about the 2,100 year old Antikythera Mechanism (believed to be the earliest surviving mechanical computing device).

What other items do you know about that shows that men have not just reciently gotten smarter?
Evolution says that man is getting bigger and smarter.
Yet here is a nother example that man has had great knowledge in the past.

Answer 1

Yes, Heron of Alexandria created works that would not be rivaled for 1500 years (pipe organs were comparably complex by the dawn of the 17th century). Before that, Archimedes developed great inventions. Similarly Galen advanced surgery (more than medicine). The Byzantines developed "Greek fire". The key question is that if they were so smart, why did they fail to perpetuate their knowledge? The answer lies in the generalization of education and the printing press (computers and the Internet haven't been around long enough to have a real impact).

Answer 2

The Greeks also invented the first known vending machine (An urn that you put a coin in top of and based on the weight of the coin [and thus the metal, if the coins were the same size], you got holy water dispensed into your bowl).

The Egyptians seem to have invented the electric light, if only a dim one, and the voltaic cell. Chamber pots have been found that had one side dipped in one metal, the other side dipped in another metal, with a gap between the two metal shells. Pour in an electrolyte solution (say, urine -- wonder why it was chamber pots?), and you will have a voltaic potential between the two metals.

The romans had the single most advanced plumbing system premodernization ANYWHERE, at any time, minus the accidental heavy metal poisoning that many historians feel is the primary cause of the fall of the roman empire. Ever wondered why the element lead has the symbol 'Pb'? Latin: Plumbium. Where do you think we get the word... plumbing? They all got severe lead poisoning.

The ancients were NOT idiots.

However, this has nothing to do with evolution, for or against. Sociological development is distinct from genetic development.

Answer 3

The Chinese had an abacus long before that - what's your point? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus )

>> What other items do you know about that shows that men have not just reciently gotten smarter?

Dude, they created a counting device, not a semi-conductor driven computer. Is this trying to disprove evolution? 'Cause you won't be able to - it's just that we embrace science more these days rather than what they did back then: embraced religiosity. We figured out what chemical compositions things are made of. We know about the elctro-magnetic force... these have all been discoveries within the past few centuries.

Knowledge acquisition doesn't reflect anything about evolution. To suppose it does, means that you don't understand evolution.

Answer 4

Is this a hidden attempt to push an agenda that we humans have "always been this way"? You say, "Evolution Says.." -But "Evolution" doesn't talk... Our understanding of the theory of natural selection "suggests" things to us... Among them, that if you are not supremely (perfectly) adapted to your environment, then minor genetic flaws (that can change your offspring in such a way as to make them more (or less!) suitable than others who were truer "copies" of your peers) will play a part in deciding who will breed and propagate the next generation... But regardless, please don't apply far-reaching principles meant to explain spans of millenia to such a "blink" as 2100 years... Have we not, through our own breeding programs spanning a much shorter time frame, twisted canines into the clownish shapes and sizes we find today? Seeing this, how can you even suggest that nature wouldn't do the same thing with some randomness and a longer time frame? "Intelligence" is a form of strength... ...and, aside from intervention by the "Hand of God", the strongest will (usually) survive! (Our brains are more "wrinkly", giving us more "2D" area, and thus, a higher IQ than anyone unfortunate enough to have a "smooth" brain! ...We nerds get rich and breed, while smoothies don't "win" a mate, and thus humanity gets "smarter"!)

Answer 5

Everytime the earth goes into cycle of rebirth after nature has destroyed it, man must start from the raw beginning. If you are saying that there were people of the past more intelligent than the present generation, maybe because our life could be comparable to a bubble that has it bursting period and another bubble will be taking its place. The intelligence of the past were found written on stones or metals. The present generation is carving it on liquid crystal displays. Evolution proves ours to be much smarter.

Answer 6

I sometimes wonder where humanity would be if the ancient Library of Alexandria had not been destroyed. That culture had advanced mathematics and had already discovered that the earth was round.
If you live in the world of academia it would be easy to think that humanity is getting more intelligent. If you experience the work a day street level mentality you might believe that the opposite is true.

Answer 7

evolution isnt currently occuring in humans. for evolution to occur, the humans that are less equiped to survive will die and not be able to reproduce and pass on the genes that made them die, while the humans that were better equiped to survive will be able to reproduce and pass on their genes to their offspring who will then reproduce and pass those same genes down to their children, eventually leaving only the people who were most equiped to survive in their enviornment. in todays world, we take care of our sick and disabled. even the people with the weakest genetics are able to reach maturity and reproduce and pass on their traits.

humans have not been evolving in the last 2000 5000 or even 10000 years. if you learned the concept of evolution you would understand that what you just said is not a good arguement for creation at all.

the only reason that we are at the point that we are at today is because of a few scientific breakthroughs. the biggest one was the engine, even though the first engine was made in ancient rome over 2000 years ago.

humans can only evolve if something is out there to kill off the weaker people.

Answer 8

Yes it is an instrument that measures the positions of objects in heaven. It is more a clock than a computer, but still quite amazing and ahead of its time.

How this applies to evolution is beyond me. It seems desperate on your part.

Answer 9

The 13 crystal skulls. None look to have been carved by any tool, made at different time periods, and hidden in seperate parts of the world. The mystery is amazing. Search it......

http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_6_1.htm

Answer 10

We have always had great knowledge, the ones daring enough to speak out had a spike driven through the tongue before they were burned at the stake by the church, so it has been tough.