On 28/03/2009 22:12, Steve Teale wrote:
dsimcha Wrote:
== Quote from Walter Bright (newshou...@digitalmars.com)'s article
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.
speech
writing
printing
telegraph
telephone
internet
One that noone seems to mention, not only on this NG but in general, is birth
control. I think a pretty good argument can be made that a major reason for
recent social advances is that, by only having 2-4 children per set of parents
instead of 10-20, parents are able to invest much more in each child than they
otherwise would be. The end result is a much more educated society and one with
enough surplus resources to look beyond its mere collective survival to actually
improving its state of knowledge, comfort, etc.
But how the hell would you have delivered that. First of all you have to
deliver chemistry and latex!
Condoms were first invented in ancient Egypt 3 Milena or so ago. they
were made out of lamb intestines and were very efficient. Of course, the
modern extra thin optionally flavored condoms need more advanced
technology than lamb intestines...
Isn't it funny that this age old method of birth control known to work
in ancient times is considered today by the US school system as
inefficient and wrong. They teach instead abstinence as a better method...
