One of the fascinating things about exploring the world of ancient inventions is the perspective it gives you on the rise and fall of civilizations. Consider an Egyptian in the second millennium BC, or an Athenian in the second century BC, or an Italian living through the Renaissance. At any of these moments, as well as countless other times through history, there would have been a perception that human history was, on the whole, a process of moving forwards and becoming ever wiser, more scientific and more enlightened. The newest inventions would have been sources of wonder, and people would have felt that the future would hold more of the same – more progress, advances in technology and science and a gradual improvement in the human condition.
However, science and technology can be lost as well as found. Some of the inventions mentioned in this book may never be reconstructed or rediscovered. History has its many dark ages and cataclysms during which knowledge is lost and the human condition gets worse rather than better. So how comfortable should we feel today that the technology we take for granted will still be here in 1,000 years or more? The presumption tends to be that by then we will be out in space, reliant on advanced energy systems, and understanding ever more of the cosmos and subatomic physics. We might even have our jetpacks and flying cars – we’ve been waiting long enough after all.
But perhaps that isn’t how things will be. Perhaps there will be a human civilization that has evolved into something unrecognizable to us, in which there remain only a few incredulous rumours about how mankind used to be able to fly to the moon and beyond, send information instantaneously around the world, cure all kinds of diseases, send aircraft and bombs across the oceans, and understand what matter is made of.
Let’s hope that the utopian version is the real story and the dystopian one never comes to fruition. But in the meantime, take a look around and appreciate that every little bit of technology that you use, from the biro pen, to the paper notebook, to the light switch, to the printing press that printed your books, was once just a pipe dream. The world we live in is amazing, and it’s because someone invented all of these things, either in the ancient world or more recently. And in the future the one thing we can rely on is that human ingenuity will continue to transform the world for better or for worse.