Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!lll-lcc!pyramid!prls!mips!hansen
From: hansen@mips.UUCP
Newsgroups: sci.misc
Subject: Re: James Burke
Message-ID: <954@mips.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Feb-87 12:48:34 EST
Article-I.D.: mips.954
Posted: Tue Feb 17 12:48:34 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 18-Feb-87 21:04:21 EST
References: <2818@udenva.UUCP> <7008@ut-sally.UUCP> <937@mips.UUCP> <3266@j.cc.purdue.edu>
Distribution: na
Lines: 39

In article <3266@j.cc.purdue.edu>, rsk@j.cc.purdue.edu (Wombat) writes:
> We have already seen examples of technology that has been lost; the
> medieval art of making stained glass still holds secrets that have not
> been re-discoverd.  There are many instances of ancient constructions that
> were built with techniques that are still unknown--although many of
> these are now being gradually deduced.  Physics hasn't changed; but
> the technology doesn't work anymore because we simply don't know how
> to make it work.
> 
> Maybe we're arguing a semantic issue; perhaps we need to draw a line
> of some vague sort between science and technology.  (I would agree with
> your original statement if it concerned science,  not technology.)

Well, I guess I'm still not making myself clear. Along with the scientific
developments, society has put an elaborate system in place of recording,
publishing, and training others in scientific methods and discoveries.  This
system is what I mean by the "technology matrix," and the fact that it
wasn't fully in place in medieval and ancient times simply serves to amplify
the point. If we are in fact losing contemporary technological knowledge,
I'd be very surprised. Yes, individual objects fail, and yes, old technology
becomes outdated and irrelevant, but the capacity to recreate that
technological item from the "technology matrix," provides a robust mechanism
to ensure the continued progress of technology.

As an example of how the mechanism works, suppose a company is formed in
which substantial technological discoveries are made. In order to exploit
the discoveries in a product, patents are filed to claim the exclusive right
to do so by the company, but only for a limited time. Those patents, after a
suitable delay, end up in the "technology matrix," and become widely
available to other people and companies. Thus, even if the company were to
fail to exploit the technology itself and have the patent rights fall
through a series of mergers, acquisitions, and liquidations, the invention
does not fail to become part of our technology in the long term.

-- 

Craig Hansen			|	 "Evahthun' tastes
MIPS Computer Systems		|	 bettah when it
...decwrl!mips!hansen		|	 sits on a RISC"