The Greeks actually also invented steam engines. But they didn’t know what to do with them. So instead it was just a fancy art piece that spins super fast.
They also invented a lot of other stuff: door bells that sound like birds chirping, automatic doors, clocks which tracked the year, etc.
I heard they did found some uses, but in the end slave labour was a lot cheaper. So the tengine fell into obscurity
That’s pretty much where manufacturers are today when it comes to implementing automation. The technology exists in many manufacturing areas, but if workers can do it more cheaply they’re not investing in it.
So instead it was just a fancy art piece that spins super fast.
Nah, they made a cool “magic like” automatic door with it.
Didn’t they also make one of the first analog computers?
The Antikythera mechanism. An almost anachronistic device meant (we think) to calculate astronomical cycles.
At this point I’m guessing they considered doing the whole industrial revolution thing then decided against it.
It’s kinda stuff like this that makes me wonder what things are considered useless right now that will be the most important invention in the future
French mathematician Pierre de Fermat wrote a “little theorem” in 1640 that is now the basis of modern computer cryptography.
The Fast Inverse Square Root is an algorithm that estimates 1/sqrt(x), a very important calculation in computer graphics. Early computers struggled when calculating this value but a programmer solved this mathematical problem…while programming Quake 3. His solution to the problem wasn’t discovered until the source code for the game was released.
The fast inverse square root algorithm was known from the 80’s, and was used in at least one game I’m aware of before Quake 3. Also, it wasn’t important in the long run - the same year Quake 3 was released, the rsqrtss instruction was introduced by Intel, which made this algorithm obsolete (as it was faster and more accurate).
It is really cool though.
I guess finding uses for inventions is half of making inventions
Id be Pablo Escobar
Shot and bleeding out on a roof in Medellin?
Absolutely.
