
The 2000 Year-Old Computer – Decoding the Antikythera Mechanism (2012) [video] - BlackLamb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZXjUqLMgxM
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glabifrons
I've seen a few documentaries on this device (though not sure if I've seen
this one yet... just started watching), and I find it absolutely amazing. It
always makes me wonder just how much technology has been developed and lost
(and how many times this has happened) due to events like the burnings of the
library of Alexandria (for example) and others we may not even know have
happened. The fact that this device is more intricate and more accurately
"machined" (for lack of a better term) than was thought possible for its age
just proves we don't know just how far back some of what we consider to be
modern developments go.

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JohnDoe365
How much technology has been lost by intransparency and by keeping inventions
in secrecy instead of sharing

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steego
Fantastic documentary and great story! It starts off slow and teases you a
bit, but it culminates nicely.

I'd love to see documentaries of this quality tell the stories of computer
science's rich history in the early 20th century. I've often wondered what if
someone like Ken Burns would weave it into a series that most people actually
find interesting.

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iso8859-1
The video on the Lego implementation explains the mechanics of it:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLPVCJjTNgk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLPVCJjTNgk)

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stephancoral
Although a device of far less sophistication, I am also fascinated by an
ancient Athenian sortition device, the kleroterion
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleroterion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleroterion)).
It is perhaps one of the earliest examples we have a random number generator.

