On Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 2:22 PM, Christopher Wright <dhase...@gmail.com> wrote: > Walter Bright wrote: >> >> Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: >>> >>> Sometimes I run these crazy calculations: how much modern firepower would >>> be just enough to turn the odds in a classic battle? At Thermopilae, I think >>> two Vickers with enough ammo would have been just about enough. Also at the >>> Lord of the Rings 2 night castle defense, one machine gun would have >>> sufficed (better protection and fewer assailants). >> >> Sometimes I think what if I were dropped naked back in time 20,000 years >> ago? Assuming I didn't get promptly cooked for dinner, what technology could >> I deliver that would have the most impact? >> >> I can't decide between iron, agriculture, or writing. I suspect writing. >> Every time humans got better at communicating, there was a huge increase in >> the rate of progress. > > Writing allows you to keep solutions to problems that only come about > rarely. Disseminating these is very time-consuming, though; copying a > manuscript by hand takes months. But 20,000 years? I think basic sanitation > comes first. It also doesn't take very long. > > Once you have writing, though, it becomes *much* easier to approach things > scientifically, especially with a bit of arithmetic. So that might be more > worthwhile, since they can arrive at sanitation eventually anyway, and > sooner if they have writing. > > Of course, in any case, you need to get around two obstacles: the language > barrier and your ignorance of whatever you're trying to teach. I know less > about agriculture, probably, than any stone age farmer. I don't know > anywhere near enough about ironworking or mining to be able to offer any > meaningful advice. But most people know enough about writing to create a > writing system for another culture, if they just sit down and consider the > problem for a few hours. > > So in your case, I dare say the only technology that you listed that you > could deliver is writing. Even a metallurgist might have significant trouble > providing ironworking to a culture without the typical modern tools of that > trade. >
Are we playing some newsgroup based version of Civilization now?