Loss of useful knowledge (does not appear to apply here, but disputed by JoshuaZ)
Since we don’t have a full list which books were in the library, let alone a list of which ones the library had the only copy of, how can you have any certainty that none of the lost books contained any useful knowledge?
In absence of substantial evidence either way, my prior probability assignment that none of the knowledge stored a major library is useful is very small.
But we can look for evidence. Are there any technologies that go missing after the destruction of the library (similar to the loss of Greek fire that happened 600 years later)? Or perhaps an industrial regress that might inidicate missing knowledge? And if there is no evidence of any such, how should we update?
Are there any technologies that go missing after the destruction of the library (similar to the loss of Greek fire that happened 600 years later)?
Well, it is hard to say, since direct technologies leave as more of an archaeological record as say math texts which are essentially technologies. But one can’t help but notice that the Antikythera mechanism predated the library, and we didn’t have anything like it again until the 1400s. However, this is imperfect in that it looks like a lot of wars and problems occurred between the height of the Greeks and the burning of Alexandria so pinning this sort of thing on it is tough.
Since we don’t have a full list which books were in the library, let alone a list of which ones the library had the only copy of, how can you have any certainty that none of the lost books contained any useful knowledge?
To be fair, he didn’t say “does not apply here” with certainty; he said “does not appear to apply here”, implying some degree of uncertainty.
In absence of substantial evidence either way, my prior probability assignment that none of the knowledge stored a major library is useful is very small.
As Bugmaster says, I don’t claim certainty.
But we can look for evidence. Are there any technologies that go missing after the destruction of the library (similar to the loss of Greek fire that happened 600 years later)? Or perhaps an industrial regress that might inidicate missing knowledge? And if there is no evidence of any such, how should we update?
Well, it is hard to say, since direct technologies leave as more of an archaeological record as say math texts which are essentially technologies. But one can’t help but notice that the Antikythera mechanism predated the library, and we didn’t have anything like it again until the 1400s. However, this is imperfect in that it looks like a lot of wars and problems occurred between the height of the Greeks and the burning of Alexandria so pinning this sort of thing on it is tough.