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Building The World's First Computer - Greeks, Clocks and Rockets - Antikythera Mechanism Episode 1

Building The World's First Computer - Greeks, Clocks and Rockets - Antikythera Mechanism Episode 1 on HackerTube: recommended by 7 Hacker News commenters across 5 separate months, 2018–2024.

Clickspring

documentary · evergreen

Open on YouTube

The first episode of Clickspring's series on reproducing the Antikythera Mechanism by hand, laying out the plan and the history. The series follows a machinist building the ancient Greek device with traditional tools and methods.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN repeatedly recommends the series for its extraordinary craftsmanship and its credible demonstration of how the mechanism could have been made.

people recommended it
7
separate months
5
strong recommendations
3
discussed on HN
2018–2024
“Highly recommend for anyone who is fascinated by the care that goes into handmade mechanical devices.”
— btown, Nov 2018, in “Missing Piece of Antikythera Mechanism Found on Aegean Seabed”

What HN commenters said

10 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

gus_massaMay 2022Strongly recommends

This is a new episode after more than a year. :) I highly recommend this serie of videos about building a reconstruction of the The Antikythera Mechanism with tool similar to the ancient tools. [Warning: It's a huge time sink] Complete playlist: ▶ this video

in “The Antikythera Mechanism Episode 11 – Inscribing the Back Plate – Part 1” · View on HN

abainbridgeJul 2019Strongly recommends

If you want some archaeological engineering theories that aren't obviously wrong, I highly recommend this youtube series about how the Antikythera mechanism could have been made. ▶ this video It's the complete antithesis of this pig fat hogwash.

in “The “greased sled” theory of Stonehenge” · View on HN

btownNov 2018Strongly recommends

Non-paywall link: [link] This reminds me of one of my favorite YouTube channels, Clickspring: an inspiring clockmaker and machinist who's currently documenting a full reproduction of the Antikythera Mechanism: ▶ this video . Highly recommend for anyone who is fascinated by the care that goes into handmade mechanical devices.

in “Missing Piece of Antikythera Mechanism Found on Aegean Seabed” · View on HN

nialoDec 2023Recommends

In case anyone here hasn't seen it, I want to share this very cool youtube series of an Australian clock maker creating a replica of the Antikythera device using only tools believed to be available to the ancient Greeks: ▶ this video

in “Earliest Carpenters: 476,000-year-old log structure discovered in Zambia” · View on HN

neatzeMar 2021Recommends

Any one interested, see Clickspring[1], he actually attempts to use ancient tools and methods to build Antikythera Mechanism. [1] ▶ this video

in “Scientists solve another piece of the puzzling Antikythera mechanism” · View on HN

mattbillensteinMar 2021Recommends

A watchmaker has made a video series on youtube about reconstructing the mechanism using some traditional techniques: ▶ this video

in “Scientists Have Unlocked the Secrets of the Ancient 'Antikythera Mechanism'” · View on HN

Show 4 more comments
wincyMar 2021Recommends

If deep domain knowledge paid off on Youtube people like Ben Eater would be a millionaire from Youtube at this point[0], his videos are so cool and great at explaining computing. Or Clickspring, the guy who made the Antikythera Mechanism [1]. But honestly even for me being a software engineer and someone who considers himself interested in this sort of stuff, I look at these pages sometimes out of wonder but I often end up watching comedy videos and stuff like that on Youtube. The algorithm recommends it, and I watch. [0] [link] [1] ▶ this video

in “YouTube and Patreon Still Aren’t Paying the Rent for Most Creatives” · View on HN

floxyDec 2024Cites it

Does anyone know if Clickspring ever finished making a copy of the mechanism? Seems like the last update was from ~2 years ago. ▶ this video [link]

in “The Antikythera mechanism – 254:19 ratio” · View on HN

jdefeliceMar 2021Cites it

Clickspring has been recreating the Antikythera[1] and findings[2] went into a research paper.[3] [1] Playlist: ▶ this video [2] [link] [3] [link]

in “A Model of the Cosmos in the Ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism” · View on HN

qohenJun 2020Cites it

Perhaps not exactly what you have in mind, but there is the Antikythera mechanism [0][1], the first known analog computer, dating back to about 100-200 BCE which exhibits gear-work that one doesn't see for another 1500 years or so. The device calculates the phases of the moon and the motion of the known planets and more for any date over a 76 year cycle. It takes into account the retrograde motion of Mars, can calculate the dates of eclipses, etc. There are videos on YouTube showing how it is supposed to have worked, e.g. [2]. [0] [link] [1] [link] [2] ▶ this video

in “Ask HN: Building a Computer in Jesus's Time” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Woodworking, metalworking & workshop skillsMechanical & precision engineeringHistory of computingantikythera mechanismclickspringclockmakingmachiningancient technology