Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by WalterBright 2327 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.
1 comments
fit2rule 2327 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.

link
Joe-Z 2327 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... ;)

link
fit2rule 2326 days ago
Technical Museum! (http://technischesmuseum.at)
link
Joe-Z 2326 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

link
fit2rule 2326 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.

link