The weight of history
When does it make sense to change an obsolete and unwieldy system?
Articles Tagged with old technology
Consider the horse
A sudden obsolescence
The most momentous event of the twentieth century, as seen from the standpoint of human history, seems to have gone mostly unnoticed.
The lovers’ lodestone
A prehistory of wireless telegraphy
It was much more difficult to stay in touch 300 years ago. A literary magazine from that era has a suggestion for a surprisingly modern way to do it.
Reading the manuscript
Why handwriting?
Communication in writing nowadays is almost exclusively done in type. Why, then, should anyone care about being able to write legibly?
The John Henry moment
Old technology triumphant
A mathematics teacher is not much like a nineteenth-century railroad worker–but there are parallels. Our consultant who tutors High School math and science continues to learn from it; sometimes, his students do also.
Smartphones by campfire light
An incongruity of technologies
One of our consultants has an interesting device for camping or possibly a disaster situation. On closer examination it appeared to us that it hadn’t been quite thought through. Then we examined it more closely still.
Tools shape the artist
A choice of camera is unexpectedly important
Our photographic consultant finds that the camera he uses can have an unsubtle effect on the pictures he takes.
It’s alarming
Many things want our attention. They can’t all have it
Life always seems to get louder and more insistent. There are reasons for this, though it’s not a good trend.
Hard problems and easy ones
What’s difficult is not always clear
Humans have accomplished some pretty amazing things, from putting men on the Moon (with old technology!) to sequencing their own heredity. But stubborn problems that look much easier persist.
Ringing the changes
The sophisticated basis of old technology
Our astronomer spent a few years in England, where he learned something of the arcane art of ringing church bells. In the belfries of that country are wonderful examples of essentially Medieval technology that also demonstrate advanced mathematical and physical ideas.