Re:Why wasn't the steam engine invented earlier? Part II
by zehaeva on Friday July 15, 2022 @01:46PM
(#32110861)
You might be interested in James Burke's TV Show Connections!
Which does this sort of thing for like 8 episodes. Go and learn why you can't have cars without swamp gasses!
Re:Why wasn't the steam engine invented earlier? Part II
by TaylorAlexander on Friday July 15, 2022 @03:25PM
(#32111846)
Connections is also a book too!
Re:Why wasn't the steam engine invented earlier? Part II
by BoxOfRain on Friday July 15, 2022 @11:22AM
(#32109062)
It would be interesting to see if there's a way this dependency graph could be captured and saved for future generations in the event of civilisation collapsing. I suspect something like that would rapidly reduce the time it takes for society to rebuild because it wouldn't have to spend energy figuring out what doesn't work all over again as much.
Re:Why wasn't the steam engine invented earlier? Part II
by I-M-S on Friday July 15, 2022 @11:29AM
(#32109148)
Both of you might be interested to check out "How to Invent Everything" [1] - it's even got flowcharts the kind you mention at the end! [2]
[1] https://www.howtoinventeverything.com/ [2] https://mohamadacma.com/content/images/2022/04/825235c6-665f...
You could pick it up anywhere, read forwards; back from something specific (or forward, if you made it a doubly linked list?); or back from whatever 'the end' would be.