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by fit2rule 2325 days ago
Also living in Europe, I find myself in awe of this fact quite often. There was a time when 'high technology' meant, knowing how to cut stone in such a way that it could be transported and assembled by an illiterate mob into a vast cathedral.

And then, there are the aquaducts and water mills scattered all over the region (Austria). What an astonishing thing to see, still in operation, hundreds of years after they were built, water wheels pulling water up into the castle ..
1 comments
WalterBright 2325 days ago
> illiterate

That doesn't mean they were stupid or didn't have intimate knowledge of their craft.

In those days, models were built by the designers which were then given to the craftsmen to build. There's a museum in England which houses the ship models built by the naval architects to give to the ship builders. The models are exquisite.

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fit2rule 2324 days ago
That's right, it simply means "cannot read and write" - but that's my point .. even in spite of the fact that the end assembly process was being done by folks who could not read/write (most of the time) they were still able to assemble these extraordinary structures using the technology available to them.

And the technology of communicating to these craftsmen and artisans is another subject itself .. here in Vienna, we also have museums devoted to such things. I find it really fascinating personally.

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Joe-Z 2324 days ago
>here in Vienna, we also have museums devoted to such things

Can you provide a link of which museum you're talking about specifically?

Just in case someone reading this happens to be living in Vienna... ;)

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fit2rule 2324 days ago
Technical Museum! (http://technischesmuseum.at)
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Joe-Z 2324 days ago
Ha, funnily enough I was just thinking about looking up a technical museum in Vienna 2 days ago. Thank you!

I'm also a big fan of the Deutsches Museum in Munich:

https://www.deutsches-museum.de

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fit2rule 2323 days ago
Yes that is an awesome museum, too! Be sure you make the effort to find the computing-history section - there are some awesome things to see there, such as the original Z4 from Konrad Zuse, and a replica of his Z3 too ..

A bummer the Space pavilion is closed at the moment though. Definitely better to plan a visit to Munich when that re-opens again.

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