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

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

Walter Bright wrote:
> 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?

Gosh, that runs through my mind a lot! (Also, I tend to ask myself a lot 
- what if I were dropped some 100-200 years *from* now?)

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

My list:

- wheel
- fire
- smelting metals
- writing
- arithmetic


Andrei