Who told you that?

[Alfirin]

Originally Posted by Eönwë

Well, maybe now, but it was not always like that. If you went to Egypt 1000 years ago and asked anyone to build a pyramid, they would just laugh at you (Even with enough manpower).

In fact, to me it seems that things did go slightly downward in the technological level in the early middle ages.

I can think of several "lost formulae" that would be very valuable today but are no longer within our knowedge. How about Damascus steel, generally still regarded as the finest in the world? We've gotten close but as far as I remember we still haven't made any steel in modern times that equals it in quality and toughness. Or "greek fire", we still don't know what went into that and I am sure there is someone who could find use for it in modern times. Lest you think all of the lost tecnology is exculsively military (and hence, some might argue, things which are better left lost) How about a Stradavarius violin. No morder violing make can make one as good and most reasarchers agree that it isn't all in the fact that they are so old. (one program I once saw suggested that the secer could be unusual growth rings in Italian trees caused by the climate condions durng the time preceding and during the so called "Little Ice Age"
For the most part I agree that in genereal as time progresses we tend to gain tecnical knowedge not lose it. but there are anomolies. The "Greek computer" has been discussed in an earlier thread, and most archeologists now concede that the "Bagdad Battery" really is a form of primitive electrical cell. There Hero's steam ball which had it been utilized (say some historians) could have given the ancient greeks the steam engine and the locomotive. Finally there is the famous "Pillar of Dheli" and iron pillar cast of such high grade metal that it has stood outdoors in a humid climate (India) for almost 2000 years as still show little or no signs of rust. that enogh for now