RE: Information & Power /Alexandria library

Ishmael Abd-er-Rahman (abd-er-rahman@mailcity.com)
Wed, 05 May 1999 12:51:42 -0700

--

On Wed, 5 May 1999 08:51:50    Billy Brown wrote:

>Spike Jones wrote:
>> I can knock out my own argument I proposed last week: that there
>> was probably no technology in the great library that we have not
>> greatly exceeded. I thought of an honest to Greek gods *technology*
>> that they had, that we do not have now: how to make stone arches..
><snip>
>> Can you calculate all the included angles without your computer?
>> Can you calculate them *with* your computer?
>> Evidently the Greeks knew how to do these stone arches..
>
>So do modern archaeologists. They have even reconstructed the exact methods
>used by architects of different cultures, and they often use these
>comparisons as a means of measuring cultural influence between different
>regions.
>
>The only reason it sounds hard is that you're trying to construct a perfect
>simulation of the problem - something that was not even remotely conceivable
>to the ancients. The Greeks (and other ancient cultures) developed
>arch-building techniques purely by trial-and-error, and they had no idea why
>things had to be done the way they were. You can easily duplicate this
>process just by studying an existing arch and copying it.
>
>Billy Brown, MCSE+I
>bbrown@conemsco.com
>
>
I don't think that with the technology we have now we can construct the massive pyramids, temples, and stadiums the ancients built. They had no cranes, bulldozers, or CAD, but they were able to position stones-transported from quarries, to heights one would think might have been impossible. We still don't know who built Stonehenge or how they transported those massive stones. We still can't construct Crystal Skulls without tool markings. Hewlitt-Packard, I was told but can't verify yet, did a rigorous analysis of the Crystal Skulls but didn't reveal their findings. HP says this was to prevent the leaking of trade secrets. There are also pyramids in China, Mexico/Middle America, Japan, and Sudan. Easter Islands stone heads also make mincemeat of our preconceived notions that the ancients were technologically primitive In Egypt there are underground corridors with paintings and bas-reliefs on the walls. No evidence of torchmarks on the ceilings. Imhotep calculated the circumference of the earth to about 25,000 miles, pretty impressive for some primitives. About 1000 years before Imhotep, Berossus(if I got his name right), a Sumerian priest, did the same. The Dogon tribe in Mali knew of the existence of Sirius A&B before western astronomy did, so do the Hopi tribe in the US. These are just a few examples and I can give many more if you like, of these scientific anomalies. Ra - (no pun intended) . Get your FREE Email at http://mailcity.lycos.com Get your PERSONALIZED START PAGE at http://my.lycos.com