So who _did_ invent the phonograph, anyway??

[duncanmac]

Recently, the James P. Hogan website reported an intriguing (if true) discovery: someone found sound recordings etched into a Roman vase. The website report refers to a Belgian archeologist’s report that gives more details [to hear same, click on the link Télécharger la vidéo in that page to play the corresponding MP4 movie].

Should this be

Comments

[fajrdrako]

Well, on the face of it, this has about as much credibility as an obilisk on the moon - or Elvis Presley's face, come to think of it - and it looks as if James P. Hogan has been smoking something impure. Along the lines of Von Daniken.

But interestingly, this does tap into a speculative fantasy of mine... what would a future archeologist make of our CDs and DVDs? Would they think we worshipped strange, shiny disks, or that they were a form of currency? And our audiotapes or videotapes, long ribbons of plastic - if a time capsule took them back a few hundred years, no one would know what to make of them.

It's all in context.

And it's a cool idea if ancient stuff has more to offer than meets the eye.

[duncanmac]

I listened to the French soundtrack in that report -- it seems that the archeologist is claiming that the sound recording was made accidentally, and that the Romans had *no*idea* that sound was being recorded at all. The archeologist also claims that some 500-year-old pottery from Spain has similar properties.

More generally, I'd agree with you about James P. Hogan. He has, however, raised some points about which I agree, namely the questions about the Big Bang Theory and the *serious* problems with our current understanding of AIDS. It's his comments on the Theory of Evolution and his support of Mr. Velikovsky that cause me to gag -- wheeze -- choke (that last being an understatement).

Sigh.

[fajrdrako]

I'd suspect Hogan has a lot of brains but not much judgement.

An accidental sound recording seems more unlikely even than a deliberate one....