More than 100 years after its finding, scientists identified some metal fragments from a ship wreck off the coast of Greece as the earliest known mechanical computing device; it is 2,100 years old. Called the Antikythera Mechanism, the device looks like a clock mechanism. However, it wasn’t until 1,000 years later that such technology was developed in Western Europe.New computer and x-ray technologies allowed scientists to learn more about the fragments from inscriptions on them. One scientist thinks the device might have been used for navigation at sea or even mapmaking.

It is important to realize that only very recently did easy navigation become commonplace. And it took thousands of years of thinking and tinkering to get us to this state of relative proficiency. Can anyone imagine what will be commonplace 2,000 years from now?

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