Imagine a world without a single computer, database, or machine learning algorithm. Now, imagine that in this world, rulers knew the exact number of their subjects, how much grain was harvested in each district, how many soldiers could be drafted into the army, and how much tax to collect from each household. Sounds like science fiction? But this was the reality of antiquity. And today, when we talk about artificial intelligence and automation, it’s worth considering: humanity’s first “neural networks” appeared long before electricity.
Inventions
The World Before Gutenberg: What Medieval Books Were Like Before the Printing Era
In today’s world, where books are available in every home, on every shelf, and even in digital form at our fingertips, it’s hard for us to imagine an era when a single book was a treasure accessible only to the select few. Before Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of printing in the mid-15th century, the creation of each volume was a feat of patience, craftsmanship, and significant expense. It was a world where a book was not just a container of information; it was a work of art, a relic, and a symbol of knowledge, power, and even divine presence.