Since technology is clearly exponential, i was wondering, if "cavemen" had started using fire (i.e. to cook, use as light etc.) a day earlier, how much farther technologicaly advanced would we be as a society.

yeah, time frame is relevant

There is a book about this, I think I've recommended it here before. It's called The Singularity is Near. It's good. Also, as to your original question, everything would have happened one day earlier. But the difference would be so negligible that I'm comfortable saying that for all intents and purposes nothing would be different.

i was thinking this over and i was wondering if it would be more reasonable to ask for the discovery and use of the wheel a day earlier rather than fire, if that would make a difference because of the actual invention and use of the wheel compared to using fire, where there had already been light.

Posted By: legatissimo

There is a book about this, I think I've recommended it here before. It's calledThe Singularity is Near. It's good. Also, as to your original question, everything would have happened one day earlier. But the difference would be so negligible that I'm comfortable saying that for all intents and purposes nothing would be different.

I dunno. Consider what Leonardo da Vinci could have envisioned had he had a steam engine. As Kristos said, it's not just what one person sees and does, it's how others manipulate what is available to them. Maybe there's a caveman who could have done something with fire (like ... invent/discover bronze) that didn't happen because he didn't have fire available to him.

But who knows then when pottery making or bronze working would have been invented/discovered then. Would it have changed at all? By a day? By a century? We cannot say. And then, what about the person who could have used bronze or clay but those were not available? Was there a Leonardo da Vinci-type-intellect in prehistoric times that nobody knew about because they ddn't have resources available to them?

Hey, I have an idea... If we arbitrarily changed something in history it might change other things in history.

batteries? care to elaborate?

post roman civilisation was a step in the wrong direction, yes.

If they're so smart why are they dead?

Einstien's smart, he's dead. go figure.

I dunno. Consider what Leonardo da Vinci could have envisioned had he had a steam engine. As Kristos said, it's not just what one person sees and does, it's how others manipulate what is available to them. Maybe there's a caveman who could have done something with fire (like ... invent/discover bronze) that didn't happen because he didn't have fire available to him.</blockquote>

I think Udoboy is right when he says what matters is what others have available to manipulate. Its a lot easier to envision different things and to eventually make them a reality when you have more to work with, and while the romans were undoubtably smart, using the technology they had to try and make something such as a plane would have been a lot harder than using the technology the Wright brothers had, and is most likely the reason they did not make one, and might not have even envisioned one. And even if the exponentiality is very small, the one day difference would make a much bigger impact than one day because of the exponentiality over an incredibly long time.

I just wonder when history will repeat itself and we fall into another dark age. I also belive there was a fact about this, how nuclear arms might have been available by the American civil war.

fire was not invented. first fire to be CONTROLLED was from lightning striking and igniting some brush. then of course there needed to be discovered uses for it. I doubt cooking was the first thing it was used for, as with things to this day, the most innovative things start as weapons.

Also consider that most of the time, inventions lead to wars, as MrFingers pointed out, and yet they also lead to medical advancements, and increase the world's population.

Correct, but we're talking about exponetiality, not the idea that one guy had one new invention. We're saying, fire is invented 1 day earlier, so what effects does that have on the computer. How much effect does one day have, not, what effect does 1 guy have?

it is a linear translation, that does not affect the gradient. the answer is no.

Posted By: Udoboy

Also consider that most of the time, inventions lead to wars, as MrFingers pointed out, and yet they also lead to medical advancements, and increase the world's population.

some of these, like penecillin, were made to help people who are going to war