Well itโs about to finish and we were stuck here for a long time so fair point I guess.
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Humanity has yet to build colonies on other planets or moons, let alone leave our solar system. We are very early Space Stage by my reckoning. I thing leaving our solar system would count as Mid space stage. I actually still think that our solar system and the Galactic stage should be separated the way Multicellular and Macroscopic were.
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So perhaps the early halve should be the โsystemโ stage and the later be the โgalacticโ stage?
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Pneumatics were invented by the Ancient Greeks.
Hydraulics and Cranes date back to Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.
The Ancient Egyptians even invented (and then lost) Solar Panels.
The Roman Emperor Caligula even has a pair of ships more luxurious than modern cruise liners (sank solely because his people wanted to erase him from history). They had heated floors and really efficient bilge pumps.
Social will have plenty of mechanical stuff with simple principles.
Edit: And, I almost forgot, Heron of Ancient Greece(edit: in the time of the Roman Empire, thou he did live in Greece) made a 10 minute, windup powered, automatic, mechanical puppet show. It even had sound effects.
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Now the dreaded question: How far up can the specimens of a society stage species get themselves with their preindustrial tech?
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If a pre-industry civ starts using electricity/electric machines, then are they automatically considered to be in Industrial? Many fundamentals of Electro-magetism were found just before the Industrial Revolution began.
From History of Maxwell Equations:
In the 1780s, Charles-Augustin de Coulomb established his law of electrostatics. In 1825, Andrรฉ-Marie Ampรจre published his force law. In 1831, Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction through his experiments, and proposed lines of forces to describe it. In 1834, Emil Lenz solved the problem of the direction of the induction, and Franz Ernst Neumann wrote down the equation to calculate the induced force by change of magnetic flux.
And Ancient people did know about electricity and magnetism:
There is evidence that the ancient Chinese,[2] Mayan,[3][4] and potentially even Egyptian civilizations knew that the naturally magnetic mineral magnetite had attractive properties, and many incorporated it into their art and architecture.[5]
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Can an electromagnetic machine be constructed without the help of industrial assets?
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What is the highest temperature furnace a pre-industrial civ could have? Would they be able to manufacture some form of magnets?
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Perhaps, but it would likely be low quality.
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To manufacture magnets, all you need is basic iron working and some ancient chinese belgium.
Make a rod of iron, heat it red hot so it loses its crystal structure (and thus, its magnetism); align the rod with north and south, and quench the red hot rod in oil to quickly cool it. This will mean the atoms are frozen in partial alignment with earths magnetic field, thus you have a weak magnet.
Repeat with another rod, except instead hold the previous magnet next to it before quenching, so that it is also trying to align with that one, to make progressively stronger magnets.
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Now with electromagnets, what do we do with them next AA?
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I believe around 1,600 degrees Celsius, though I may be mistaken.
While there is no evidence they realized it, it has been calculated that the Solar Panels the Ancient Egyptians used had the magnetic power necessary to be used as a mag-lift, which would have allowed two people to push 2.5 tons loads, had they realized they could do that.
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Was it really adaptable in that way or is this an another Aeolipile situation where a seemingly revolutionary idea turns out to have been non-applicable for the people of that time and age?
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According to the article about itโs discovery (posted a couple posts back), it seems the team that discovered it was convinced it was โpossibleโ, though it sounded like it would have taken quite a few solar panels, and I question the stability of the cart (imagine getting it half way there and tipping it over).
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I wonder if near the limits of what society stage can achieve could a better panel tech be unlockedโฆ
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Just imagine if the Ancient Egyptians hadnโt scrapped all of their tools to make weapons and armor for whatever war, and then forgot how they had made those tools in the first place. Such a shame. It took us this long to realize they had solar panels or electricity, and we still donโt know how they cut some of the stones they cut in the way that they did. The water screw they invented is even called the Archimedes Screw, on account that they didnโt make any notes or noise about their discovery of it decades earlier. Makes you wonder what else was lost.
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Perhaps some stuff we know today under different names?
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https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveDeckard/comments/1nhy4yf/looking_for_deckardframe_information_source/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveDeckard/comments/1nho6z4/possible_steam_frame_deckard_news_coming_on/
Me when the Deckard is announced:
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Has anyone else realized Oncpapaโs pfp has Clippy as an earing?
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Have noticed it some time ago. One more person for the front I guess.
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