POLL: How Important Would You Be if...

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by JoAnnP38, Apr 4, 2004.

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How useful would you be in "reinventing" technology if it should disappear?

  1. Critically Important (Give me sand I'll make a CPU)

    2 vote(s)
    11.1%
  2. Very Important (Give me a forge and I'll make an internal combustion engine)

    2 vote(s)
    11.1%
  3. Somewhat Important (Pyramid? All it takes is a block and tackle)

    4 vote(s)
    22.2%
  4. Mildly Important (I know how to plant seeds)

    5 vote(s)
    27.8%
  5. Sadly Non-consequential (I'll just stay out of everyone's way.)

    5 vote(s)
    27.8%
  1. JoAnnP38

    JoAnnP38 Member

    How important would you be if for some reason the world did a technological reboot? In other words what if all physical manifestations of technology disappeared. How useful would you be in "reinventing" or "reimplementing" technology as we now know it?

    I ask this questions because I often wonder just how much we take for granted.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 4, 2004
  2. -kevin-

    -kevin- Resident Redneck

    JoAnn,

    I really like your explanations of the various levels.

    Kevin :)
     
  3. JoAnnP38

    JoAnnP38 Member

    Thanks! I didn't spend too much time trying to create accurate divisions of knowledge, I just used whatever came to mind. It boggles my mind sometimes when I think about all that the human race has accomplished. Today, our accomplishments are so derivative that I think we take a lot for granted (I know I usually do!)
     
  4. Mike Albrecht

    Mike Albrecht New Member

    Since my training and experience is in mining and metallurgy option 2 is what I have done most of my career,
     
  5. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    If it was just the physical manifestations that dissappeared, I suppose that all the engineers would still be there. They would reboot it. They wouldn't need me, except as an employee. (Kinda like now.)

    But I remember once reading a science fiction series called 'The Cross-Time Engineer' or something like that. The thesis was that a 20'th century engineer suddenly finds himself in 13'th century Poland. He knows that the Mongols are coming in a few years. So he sets about upgrading their technology. Not as easy as it sounds, without technical infrastructure, with kings and nobles jealous of powerful new kids on the block, and a tendency for people to attribute wonders to sorcery.

    Could I make a difference if I slipped and found myself in the 13'th century?

    I could set their impetus theorists on the right track by telling them about momentum and Galilean relativity. I could tell them about Newton's laws of motion and about conceptualizing physical problems in algebraic form rather than geometrically. Don't know if they would listen to me.

    I could turn them onto differential calculus and show them how to find maxima, minima and how to solve related rates problems.

    I could tell them about distilling that black stuff in the ground and burning it. (I think that they already had distilled alcoholic spirits.)

    I could give them some hints about steam engines, I guess. But I don't understand the thermodynamics. I'm not sure their metal-working capabilities could handle things like pistons.

    I don't know how to make gunpowder, so that's out. It trickled into Europe from China around that time anyway, perhaps facilitated by the Mongols. (If that gang had realized that it could be used in weapons, the world would look very different today.)

    I could tell them about Bernoulli's principle and while I can't do the calculations, I could probably make a functional hang glider. That would probably be enough to stimulate their interest in aviation.

    So would the hot air balloons. But would their textile industry manage a huge balloon? Would a patchwork balloon really work? Hummm...

    I wouldn't be much help with electricity.

    I could tell them about germs and antisepsis. I could probably show them penicillin mold and experiment with making antibiotic ointments from it.

    I could suggest printing presses and moveable type.

    So... yeah. I could probably accomplish more than I think. I could transform a world. If I didn't get killed first....
     
  6. Han

    Han New Member

    I discussed this with my husband, an engineer. I was surprised how different our answers are.
     
  7. -kevin-

    -kevin- Resident Redneck

    A friend of mine made an interesting observation about "Scotty" on the original Star Trek. By todays standards he must have been really smart and one heck of an engineer. But his answer invariably to Capt Kirk was "Its broke Sir..." Using that as a measure I could move in any time period and tell you what's broke. Fixing it may be a different matter :)

    Kevin
     
  8. pugbelly

    pugbelly New Member

    I could probably make a fire to cook food and to provide the engineers light to work under. Beyond that, yikes!
     
  9. JoAnnP38

    JoAnnP38 Member

    How so?
     
  10. Han

    Han New Member

    Well, I made the comment about this posting and said , I could make a fire, and make a garden, (being a gardener). He then went on to say , "did you know that gasonline comes from corn, an additive from gasoline", then many other tidbits of things I didn't know. He further went on to say that all that is needed is to find a metal deposit and that is the beginning of many things we have today (which was interesting, but a whole other story).

    The MOST interesting part of what he said was "All you need is a really diverse group, YOU bring up things I never have thought of, and I can tell I have surprised you, so it take a group of many different people, but bring them together, we could do it quickly".

    It was a great little story of diversity, but I don't think I could use it in my class as a casual conversion, nobody would belive me!!!

    I was surprised how much this posting hit me that I could not do too much, and he thought he could do everything, and he is right (that man surprises me everyday), it takes everybody - interesting it came from the engineer, and not the management person!
     

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