I finally watched this short documentary today — even though a friend of mine told me to do so around six months ago. But, I saw it on iPlayer again and figured I’d give it a chance. And I am now well pleased that I did. I did not expect much and this means I did not expect to hear of a device I’d never heard before that is amazing in its construction and purpose.
The story goes: Off the island of Antikythera, divers found a shipwreck. This shipwreck contained a fair few items, including a mysterious object which could be anything. Termed the ‘Antikythera Mechanism’, this object has captivated a number of people since who have all tried to figure out its meaning and design — and this film follows the exploits of a group of experts as well as Michael Wright who had been interested in finding an answer on his own.
I will not explain the Mechanism further for it is not difficult to search it on Google if you so wish — and since the documentary looked brilliant when I did not know what was going to happen and what they were going to discover. So, in short — watch this film, it is certainly worth it.
I will, however, point out this article on Guardian (“The extraordinary 2,000-year-old computer that you’ve never heard of”) for I agree with the sentiment there: it is a pity that I had not heard of this before, and it is a pity that the general public is not more aware of what our achievements are based on.
I’ll be pointing a number of my friends to watch this documentary because I would think it important for people to be aware of what has been — and for us to not have the thought that no one before has been as civilized or advanced as we are.
