I am Vincenzo, the curator of our
museum here at the University of Padua. I will be glad to show
you around but first you should understand some fundamental ideas.
During this time period that you folks from the future call the
Renaissance, technology and inventions were very primitive and
crude. Things that you take for granted were not in existence,
and not even imagined in one's wildest dreams. If you had come
up with an idea for a computer during our time, you would have
been ridiculed, laughed at, and considered a threat to society.
You could have been punished for going against common belief.
To help you understand how little technology we have, imagine
everything that uses electricity or batteries. We don't have these
items right now during the Renaissance. Everything from computers
to lights to indoor plumbing was non existent, and was unheard
of at this time.
Now let's go and see what we have here in the Renaissance, and
what's about to be developed.
So if you think that maybe you have
an idea that is ahead of your time, or is very useful, keep dreaming.
Take Boyle's advice and don't let your idea go up in smoke!
References:
Parker, Steve. How Things Work . Random House,
Inc. New York, 1991.
Williams, Jay. Leonardo Da Vinci. American
Heritage Publishing Co., Inc. New York, 1965.
Yenne, Bill. 100 Inventions That Shaped World History.
Bluewood Books, 1993.
