scott wrote:

>> Of course what you say is true, but all those societal elements were
>> evolved
>> TO. If today's tech was to disappear tomorrow, we'd suddenly have a
>> regression to a level far below what we had in the early 20th. Until we
>> can
>> re-establish the "outmoded" technologies and technological base (like
>> steam
>> power) that were cutting edge in say, 1920.
 
> Yeh, it still massively surprises me how anything can be designed or made
> without computers and the internet.

Me too - Jay Leno in his Popular Mechanics column a few issues ago had an
article about a steam engine he bought. He said they were all made by hand,
and not one (!) had identical measurements! It was the -same- manufacturer
and they built the same model, but apparently they were so roughly made
that parts didn't fit across same instances of the same model. But they
worked just fine. And were lubricated with pig-fat!

> Basically ever since I started work 
> *everything* was designed via CAD systems and almost-instant internet
> exchange of data.  I often ask some of the older people working for my
> company how stuff worked before, it is really interesting, and explains
> why things can be made so much more efficiently today.

I spoke to an engineering grad a while ago, and he said that often older
craftsmen, with hand-controlled lathes, could turn out better, more
accurate products than the computer driven CNC machine they used at his
company. He said it was because the human can "know" his tool or lathe, and
where it is inaccurate or a little "under" as regards measurements. A CNC
machine can't "know" that, and if you screw up its setup in the slightest
(not level, too hot, vibration, etc.) it gives sub-optimal results - where
a human can adjust for a mis-measurement or error.
-- 
Stefan Viljoen

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