More Progress Toward Reading Herculaneum Scrolls

Discuss the world of the Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, and Egyptians.
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ficino
Posts: 745
Joined: Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:15 pm

Re: More Progress Toward Reading Herculaneum Scrolls

Post by ficino »

Saw this, too - amazing advances in technology.

So now we'll be able to get the autograph text of Mark. How do I know? Well, Calpurnius Piso was the father in law of Julius Caesar. Those guys and their followers cooked up the Great Joke!! Calpurnius Piso, in fact, wrote the fucking New Testament!!

see link:

http://reuchlina.tripod.com/
Stephan Huller
Posts: 3009
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:59 pm

Re: More Progress Toward Reading Herculaneum Scrolls

Post by Stephan Huller »

I think this might be a dangerous development insofar as our entire frame of reference for why 'the ancients' matter is the Renaissance. It might end up testing how much we really care about antiquity. Or conversely it might lead to a rebirth of the humanities. Imagine all the texts that might be lying dormant here. I wonder whether the reason why the ancient writings are so valuable is that so little has survived. What now if hundreds of new texts suddenly flood the 'market' as it were - who can possibly absorb its significance? Will it be too much to bear?
jayraskin
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:03 am

Re: More Progress Toward Reading Herculaneum Scrolls

Post by jayraskin »

Hi Steven Huller,

The article says ten years more. I think it has been ten years since they first announced this. This project is taking longer than the Trojan War.

If it takes them so long to invent a machine for reading a few damn burnt manuscripts, how long is it going to take them to invent something really useful, like a wristwatch that slows down time so we can complete writing a ten hour paper in 3 and a half minutes?

Warmly,

Jay Raskin
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