The six simple machines are all well known (although for some reason the Mayans missed the wheel and pulley, those dummies). Those are really all you need to build anything solid. I think that this is why I failed to release anything as a (partial) Quake level. I'm too picky about making it "Real". In other words I always want it to have a sense of place so there's a reason for it being there.

I can sling brushes as well as anyone else in general but I'm never happy with the results. I don't know why but I'm not. 

Ancient societies were in many ways smarter than we are today, technological progress is an ongoing process. It is a mistake to consider ourselves superior to our ancestors in every aspect. Domestication has made the average westerner become more of a proxy to the production process, whilst ancient man lived it. Thus having more respect for the fundamental aspects of life, which brings with it a certain wisdom that is now paradoxically less accessible. 

some ancient societies had the benefit of slavery. if you have unlimited work force and capacities, I guess you can do pretty huge things.

spiney, would you mind sharing some examples of those many ways? 

totally, we have the same brains as our hunter-gatherer ancestors (which explains a lot). I'm not about to go work in a factory or a farm, but being so out of touch with the system that makes what we need to survive can't fail to bite us in the ass. I also think "10 billion currency" worth of equipment/goods, as China produces, can't REALLY be equivalent to "10 billion currency" worth of cellphone games or advertising sneakery, shit has to get real sooner or later.

Quaketree, I am all for a sense of place in a Quake map, and my favourite ones (ie Shadow) have that, but I also think Quake was so abstract that most of the original maps had no reason for their existence, and that was liberating - and remains liberating compared to the level design in modern games. 

pretty amazing, especially from an engineering and/or architectural viewpoint.

You cant really compare that sort of stuff to mapping the human genome. 

them to the average skycraper and/or sport stadiums is also silly IMHO. The mayan and egyptian pyramids hardly have a mm between each rock, not to mention the location of stuff like Macchu Picchu etc. 

I'm not making a case for these things being technologically superior, I was simply pointing out that we should still be amazed by them. 

 

Read this and the comments:

http://michaelsheiser.com/PaleoBabble/2012/08/transporting-trilithon-stones-baalbek-applied-physics-ancient-aliens/

Also - I would love to visit this place:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baalbek 

I like the derogative "mainstream" in reference to science.

The moon causes tides? Oh, please, that's what mainstream gravitologists say. There is evidence all over the planet (look at the signs!!) that it is an ancient water power generator which some people (LOL!) refer to as a myth like Atlantis.

Snow is cold? It's just a psychological reaction to white powder that "their" scientists around the time of Jesus of Nazareth implanted into the masses using sinusoidial audio pressure. There is proof in all ancient societies that you can reduce the feeling of coldness by meditation or hypnosis. Of course those techniques are ridiculed by the mainstream. 

err Ricky, the WP link includes an explanation as to how the stones might have been moved. 

I've seen demos where people have moved stones the size of easter island heads up hills and then righted them. It's all possible with some smart people doing the planning.

Assuming that anything you don't understand is the work of aliens is silly. 

We don't know how they moved the heads. There was a lever and rollers system posited be it proved to be unworkable.

Probably why the original populace rebelled and cast down the moan - the work of moving them was just too much.

The impressive thing is what it would have taken to actually move a few tonnes of rock with just what you can find on a tiny island.

That's ancient technology - blood sweat and tears. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9w-i5oZqaQ 

This guys shows how one man could lift a gigantic stone block. If you had enough time, you could dig the center stone under a huge block, dig out one side, and literally do the whole process single handed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYQBDhkBfr0&t=2m40s 

holy fuck Ricky you are retarded.

In the words of a wiser man than you, I give you some advice:

p.s1-> put the gun in your mouth
p.s2-> put real monition
p.s3-> make us that favor!  

Scampie that isn't a very nice thing to say to someone you know. Shows what kind of person you are I guess. 

I beg you consider how many people I might have known who did commit suicide before saying something as insulting as that. 

This one time I put a pyramid in a q3 map and it was pretty sweet. 

It's a shame I can't beat the shit out of you through the internet you worthless fuck. I hope your nearest and dearest die in a fire if they haven't already. 

 

Seriously though guys, chill out and kiss and make up