Chris set out on a multi-year journey to rebuild the Antikythera Mechanism using tools available at the time of construction; the videos are meticulous and some of the best machining videos in the genre, in my opinion. Chris ended up writing some cutting-edge academic papers on the Antikythera Mechanism such as The Antikythera Mechanism Evidence of a Lunar Calendar, published by the British Horological Institute, as part of making the videos.
I see the story of the Antikythera Mechanism as a metaphor for preserving people; if we can keep people safe, then what we preserve today we can restore with the tools of tomorrow. I see preservation as a way of honoring our past by preserving the present’s living memories, to deliver them to a future that loves and wants them. One of my family members @leyline wrote a songabout preservation and the Antikythera Mechanism. I think it expresses the concept very well; here’s the lyrics.
[Verse 1] You were raised by hands that knew you, Who wheeled your heart to true. You set your sights upon the stars Recounting all you knew.
And when, at last, your ship went down and sank beneath the waves, There were no stars for you to see Among those darkened graves.
[Verse 2] A thousand years of night went by and then a thousand more, Until at last they dredged you up, In fragments from the floor.
But could they peer inside the rust And learn what you had been? Or would they break, with clumsy tools, The wondrous wheels within?
[Verse 3] They had no tools to bring you back. To show what you kept hid. But they, at least, could keep you safe So that is what they did.
And though they yearned to know your name, They swore they never would. No glory—just the slender hope That later ages could.
[Chorus] Out of the waters of the dark Our new light has found you. Lit up the wheels hid deep within You are known to us, and loved.
I want to share the video series Building The World’s First Computer: The Antikythera Mechanism, by Chris Budiselic.
Chris set out on a multi-year journey to rebuild the Antikythera Mechanism using tools available at the time of construction; the videos are meticulous and some of the best machining videos in the genre, in my opinion. Chris ended up writing some cutting-edge academic papers on the Antikythera Mechanism such as The Antikythera Mechanism Evidence of a Lunar Calendar, published by the British Horological Institute, as part of making the videos.
I see the story of the Antikythera Mechanism as a metaphor for preserving people; if we can keep people safe, then what we preserve today we can restore with the tools of tomorrow. I see preservation as a way of honoring our past by preserving the present’s living memories, to deliver them to a future that loves and wants them. One of my family members @leyline wrote a song about preservation and the Antikythera Mechanism. I think it expresses the concept very well; here’s the lyrics.
[Verse 1]
You were raised by hands that knew you,
Who wheeled your heart to true.
You set your sights upon the stars
Recounting all you knew.
And when, at last, your ship went down
and sank beneath the waves,
There were no stars for you to see
Among those darkened graves.
[Verse 2]
A thousand years of night went by
and then a thousand more,
Until at last they dredged you up,
In fragments from the floor.
But could they peer inside the rust
And learn what you had been?
Or would they break, with clumsy tools,
The wondrous wheels within?
[Verse 3]
They had no tools to bring you back.
To show what you kept hid.
But they, at least, could keep you safe
So that is what they did.
And though they yearned to know your name,
They swore they never would.
No glory—just the slender hope
That later ages could.
[Chorus]
Out of the waters of the dark
Our new light has found you.
Lit up the wheels hid deep within
You are known to us, and loved.