ohwilleke

Some technological advances are prerequisite to other technological advances. For example, you are not going to get electric lightbulbs until you discovery a practical way to generate electricity.

Other technological advances can occur more or less independently. For example, you can develop a germ theory of disease without any knowledge of gravity, the nuclear weak force, the nuclear strong force, or the relationship of the sun, the moon and the Earth.

Part of the mix of technology we use today, has to do with the order in which independent technological advances occurred.

For example, had someone discovered how to make a blimp 100 years earlier (and the technology of 100 years earlier could have constructed one), intercontinental passanger rail might never have emerged. Or, if irradiation of food (also within the technology of that age and contemporaneous with the similar idea of Pastuerization) had been discovered in the late 1800s, it might have become the norm, and refrigeration might have been restricted to the niche market of gourmet cooking.

Anyone have thoughts on other examples of cases where the development of technology was very path specific?

Bible Humper

Hmm, I kinda sorta remember a good one.

The Russian space program was, of course, reliant on rocketry.

Their rocketry was dependant on the size of the components.

The maximum size of the components was based upon how much bulk the trains could handle.

The bulk capacity of the trains was dependant upon how much space there was on either side of them while going through passes, valleys. etc.

The gaps through these obstacles were the ones made by the slave labour of the Roman Empire, the train tracks were simply laid along these routes to save time and money.

The size of the gaps were just big enough that two horses could fit through side by side while hauling loads.

The direction of the Russian space program, with all the engineering concessions required because they couldn't transport rocket components of the ideal size, was thus heavily influenced by the size of the asses of the Roman horses.

Not what you were hoping for in this thread I know....

Abacus

SCOW,

That is most interesting. I once received an e-mail describing the same thing, except applied to the US space program. Makes one wonder what the real truth is.

Abacus

And speaking of rockets. Here's some wild speculation:

The space race was largely the result of the Cold War and also WWII (German rocket scientists). One has to wonder how much space age technology would not exist today if the Cold War had never taken place. And, if WWII had not taken place, would there have been a Cold War? WWII took place largely because of how WWI turned out. Now suppose the machine gun or the airplane hadn't been invented when they did. Would WWI and subsequent history have turned out differently? No second world war? No cold war? No space race? No space age technology, like communications satellites or global postitioning systems?

[ August 19, 2002: Message edited by: Abacus ]

[ August 19, 2002: Message edited by: Abacus ]</p>

echidna

Aside there is an article in the last New Scientist which speculates the technological influence of living under a partially transparent atmosphere. Imagine life developing under a fully clouded atmosphere where the stars couldn’t be seen. The article speculates that celestial navigation could not have existed, slowing knowledge about the world, & how our whole worldview has been altered simply by the observation of stars, that they have contributed to our understanding of such concepts as gravity for instance.

The article also notes that detractors believe that seeing beyond our atmosphere contributed little to our development.

gabalski

From <a href="http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.htm" target="_blank">Snopes2.com</a>:

Legend: The United States standard railroad gauge derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot.

Status: False.

I assume the same goes for the Russian space program, though I've never heard that one before.

Mike

tdweomer

I always wondered about Charles Babbage's computer, the Difference Engine, and what it would have meant if he pulled it off back in the mid-nineteenth century: <a href="http://home.clara.net/mycetes/babbage/" target="_blank">http://home.clara.net/mycetes/babbage/</a>

William Gibson wrote a book about it: <a href="http://www.sfsite.com/08a/dif62.htm" target="_blank">http://www.sfsite.com/08a/dif62.htm</a>