The idea that kept nagging me while reading this post is: how useful for reverse-engineering is knowing the features (and not necessarily the exact makeup) of what you want to make? Is is significantly easier to make a computer when you know what it should do and how the big picture view of it works?
Intuitively knowing the end product seems to help, but I hear your argument that without the 2020 technology, it might still be impossible. A nice test could be to keep people in a place for a week, with the task of building something that they know but didn’t study (a bicycle for example) with modern tools for one group and older methods for another group. My conjecture would be that for simple enough advances, even older methods and basic knowledge of feature might be enough to make the “ugly delicious homemade cake” version of the “proper bakery made cake” that was the original object.
On a related note, the manga Dr. Stone is a pretty fun exploration of remaking modern technology in a past/post-apo setting (with the usual manga trope of super teenage genius).
The idea that kept nagging me while reading this post is: how useful for reverse-engineering is knowing the features (and not necessarily the exact makeup) of what you want to make? Is is significantly easier to make a computer when you know what it should do and how the big picture view of it works?
Intuitively knowing the end product seems to help, but I hear your argument that without the 2020 technology, it might still be impossible. A nice test could be to keep people in a place for a week, with the task of building something that they know but didn’t study (a bicycle for example) with modern tools for one group and older methods for another group. My conjecture would be that for simple enough advances, even older methods and basic knowledge of feature might be enough to make the “ugly delicious homemade cake” version of the “proper bakery made cake” that was the original object.
On a related note, the manga Dr. Stone is a pretty fun exploration of remaking modern technology in a past/post-apo setting (with the usual manga trope of super teenage genius).