Meeting Minutes
Torch Club of the Fox Valley
19 May 2022
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Notes taken by: Sue Bennett, Secretary
Attendees: Bill Kelly, Sue Bennett, Nancy Bodway, David Debbink, Marcia Debbink, Walt Hedges, Kris Stahl, Peter Thiel and Bert Wiegand.
Virtual Guests: Sofia Wilson and Paul Freiberg
BUSINESS MEETING
VP Bill called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. There was no business meeting , as President Paul attended virtually and Treasurer Barb was unable to attend. Newly elected officers will begin their terms.
Bill had asked members to come to the meeting ideas for possible topics for future papers. They were as follows:
Sue: Why humans need trees; a history of human burial practices
Nancy: Married couples who were both composers
David: An alternative tax system; rebuilding an automobile
Walt: The ‘real price’ of electric cars
Kris: Chordoma, a rare cancer
Peter: Geneology of Helen’s grandmother
Bert: Boundry Waters adventure; a history of my life with computers
Bill passed around sign-up sheet for scheduling papers next year.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bill and Barb would again like to host a summer picnic at their home on either the 11th or 18th of August. Please let them know which works best for you, so they can plan accordingly.
Presentation by Walt Hodges
Secrets of Tools
Our culture and society are an arrogant lot. The general attitude is our technology and knowledge can overcome any obstacle our society faces. That attitude has been reinforced recently by the medical profession and immunologists in particular. A mere handful of people from three or four major drug companies have pulled us out of the pandemic by possibly 100 to 200 researchers altogether. As Winston Churchill said, “so much is owed by so many to so few.” Even though about 40% of our people don’t prize our intellectual pursuits, they still use their cell phones and computers to proselytize against these very pursuits.
Many technologies have become ubiquitous and mundane, yet few people really hold the knowledge of the technologies. How few people would have to be exposed to the fragile conditions of war or disease to erase an essential technology? We may be closer to the edge than you think.
Let us look at history to find a parallel after the Roman Empire fell in 476 AD. Most of Europe fell into complete disarray for two to three centuries. No quarrying of stone or mixing of mortar was seen in Britain. All buildings were of wood. All currency had disappeared. Some tools survived, but farming practices like thrashing, irrigation, and crop rotation had to be reinvented. The simple crank used in 352 BC was not seen again in use in Europe until it was used for pumps in the 1400’s. Most of the knowledge from the Greek Hellenistic Age had to be rediscovered, which took up until the industrial revolution in the 1800’s.
How was this knowledge lost? The Greeks wrote profusely and established a great library in Alexandria. They did their part to spread the knowledge, and I am sure they never thought it would be lost. The short answer is Rome. After the Greek and Roman wars from about
240 BC to 70 BC, plus the sacking of cities and enslavement of intellectual Greeks, there was the Roman attitude toward science and technology which spelled the death knell for scientific knowledge.
The Romans were not interested in science and favored the legal and military structures of domination over technology and economics. They certainly did not reject the benefits of technology and wealth. They simply thought that lowly folks should generate technology and aristocrats should enjoy it. This is not unlike our attitudes today.
To illustrate the point and document this loss of knowledge, I will expand on the discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism and its lesson for modern times.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:25 pm.