[OT] [I mean totally OT] Re: What can you "new"

[BCS]

Hello Walter,

> Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> 
>> Sometimes I run these crazy calculations: how much modern firepower
>> would be just enough to turn the odds in a classic battle? At
>> Thermopilae, I think two Vickers with enough ammo would have been
>> just about enough. Also at the Lord of the Rings 2 night castle
>> defense, one machine gun would have sufficed (better protection and
>> fewer assailants).
>> 
> Sometimes I think what if I were dropped naked back in time 20,000
> years ago? Assuming I didn't get promptly cooked for dinner, what
> technology could I deliver that would have the most impact?
> 
> I can't decide between iron, agriculture, or writing. I suspect

Ag. Up to a little over 100 years ago >90% of man was needed to feed us all. 
Everything else (including swinging that balance) was done by the <10% left 
over. If you could swing it just a little bit then you'd get large returns 
now. OTOH at the rate we are going, you might also speed up Judgment Day 
(the skynet or inconvenient truth version).

> writing. Every time humans got better at communicating, there was a
> huge increase in the rate of progress.
> 
> speech
> writing
> printing
> telegraph
> telephone
> internet