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Story About the First Computer

The New Yorker has a story about the Antikythera Mechanism, possibly the first mechanical computer, built by hand in ancient Greece. I liked the conclusion best, that the device embodied the world view of an era, in much the way that our current world view is embodied in our own technology.

"One day in the spring of 1900, a party of Greek sponge divers returning from North Africa was forced by a storm to take shelter in the lee of the small island of Antikythera, which lies between Crete and Kythera. After the storm passed, one of the divers, Elias Stadiatis, put on a weighted suit and an airtight helmet that was connected by an air hose to a compressor on the boat, and went looking for giant clams, with which to make a feast that evening."
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Labels: antikythera

Posted by Mark Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:52:00 AM | permalink |