Re: retrograde technologies?
Joe E. Dees (joedees@bellsouth.net)
Sat, 29 May 1999 18:12:19 -0500
Date sent: Sat, 29 May 1999 09:06:15 -0700
From: Cynthia <cyn386@flash.net>
To: extropians@extropy.com
Subject: Re: retrograde technologies?
Send reply to: extropians@extropy.com
> > > Lee Daniel Crocker wrote: ... It is idle fantasy to
> > > imagine that (1) technology can move backwards, ...
> >
> > The latest Star Wars episode made me wonder: can technology
> > go backwards? They seemed to imply technology was going
> > violently aft. Can anyone think of an example, now or in any time
> > past, where a society had it and later didn't? Descended from
> > enlightenment to superstition? Would dark ages Europe qualify? spike
>
> There are examples of that. Loss of technology has been known to happen
> when a branch of a civilization gets cut off from the main branch. Small
> groups cannot maintain the level of sophistication that larger groups
> can. And when there are not enough members of the group, so that all
> technology can be passed from one generation to the next, technology is
> lost.
>
> The Stratavarious family died out and the making of a Statavarious violin
> is a lost technology.
>
As is the original process for glazing Ming China.
>
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