Arthur C. Clark once said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". What technologies do we have today that would look like magic to people from the past? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by BarrelAgedBoredom@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

85 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I think lasers are pretty wack when you think about them through this lens. A small, wand-like object in your hand can make light appear from seemingly nowhere. If it's powerful enough it can set things on fire or blind people. Not to mention larger ones like laser cutters or the LLD, used to destroy missiles midflight. Thats sure to blow some feudal peasant minds

(page 2) 34 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] BitSound@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

ChatGPT is magic to me now. It's great living in the future.

[-] systemglitch@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

It is pretty cool. Until our AI overlords decide we are too wasteful. ;)

[-] xuxebiko@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

[-] WhoRoger@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

People in the past had a lot of weird technologies, trickery and magician stage plays. I don't think a laser pointer would be out of the ordinary, unless you'd try to explain what it actually is. I can imagine people would just assume it's a trick.

Now, a cutting laser... That could be interesting.

But I wonder how people in the past would react to stuff like audio and video recording and immediate playback. I always thought that is something that screams "impossible" unless you're already familiar with it.

[-] Lemjukes@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

The Saturn V Rocket, The reusable Falcon rockets spacex uses(my jaw still drops watching those things land), The US NAVY's Rail Gun(until they canceled the project in 2021), That new globe screen doohicky in Vegas.

[-] BigPapaE@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I'd really love to sit a middle aged peasant down and watch them play GTA V

load more comments

this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023

66 points (97.1% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26980 readers

459 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.