What we can learn from the study of Retro Technology
The general study of retro-technology strikes me as the premier field for demonstrating that technical knowledge is not a matter of linear cumulation over time, and one of the best illustrations that the past truly is a foreign country. There’s nothing further from the truth than A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court : cast into medieval Europe, or 12th Century Africa, or Ming China, and magically granted perfect ability to speak and understand languages, a modern person would still flounder simply in their ability to use, not to mention make, the characteristic technologies of the day, both everyday and extraordinary ones.
Some more discussion, links, & interesting ideas within the post—prompeted by musings on the Voynich Manuscript.
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