I enjoyed this investigation a lot; it’s fascinating to think of the uses to which this could have been put.
You may be interested in a related (ongoing) project I’ve been working on, to survey ‘paths untaken’—cases of historical technological delay, restraint, or post-development abandonment, and to try and assess their rationales or contributing factors. So far, it includes about 160 candidate cases. Many of these need much further analysis and investigation, but you can find the preliminary longlist of cases at https://airtable.com/shrVHVYqGnmAyEGsz/tbl7LczhShIesRi0j , and an initial writeup and pitch of the project at: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pJuS5iGbazDDzXwJN/the-history-epistemology-and-strategy-of-technological -- I’d be interested to hear any thoughts or comments.
I enjoyed this investigation a lot; it’s fascinating to think of the uses to which this could have been put.
You may be interested in a related (ongoing) project I’ve been working on, to survey ‘paths untaken’—cases of historical technological delay, restraint, or post-development abandonment, and to try and assess their rationales or contributing factors. So far, it includes about 160 candidate cases. Many of these need much further analysis and investigation, but you can find the preliminary longlist of cases at https://airtable.com/shrVHVYqGnmAyEGsz/tbl7LczhShIesRi0j , and an initial writeup and pitch of the project at: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pJuS5iGbazDDzXwJN/the-history-epistemology-and-strategy-of-technological -- I’d be interested to hear any thoughts or comments.