Re: Information & Power /Alexandria library

Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
06 May 1999 13:01:35 +0200

Dwayne <dwayne@pobox.com> writes:

> The lower courses of the Temple of Jupiter at Baalbeck are,
> according to the quotes I have seen, too massive to be moved using
> currently available technology. Now, these may be quotes from
> engineers who have vested interests, or they might be correct.

A quick look at the some websites mentions a 1000 ton carved stone in the quarry, and the Trilithon of three 800 ton stones. This is definitely in the range of modern technology (the "turtle" they move the space shuttle on can carry much more).

BTW, what would the vested interests of the engineers have been? A way of avoiding having to move the stones?

Maybe the claim is simply a misunderstanding: the engineer was referring to a disbelief in how the ancients could have done it, and then it was repeated too much to become a claim about current inability. It fits into the "lost golden age"-meme receptors fairly well. 

-- 
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Anders Sandberg                                      Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se                            http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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