Lest We Get Egotistical
It is natural to assume that we, as a technological culture, have advanced so far beyond our predecessors. We have the benefits of silicon based computation, advanced chemical batteries for providing power, and so on and so forth.
I’d like to send you back a few centuries when the technologists had none of those things. Instead, they had highly refined gears and gear making processes, springs for power, and the limits of their imaginations.
From Switzerland, there is a programmable automaton capable of writing with a quill.
From Japan, there is a programmable automaton capable of writing with a brush.
From France, there is a programmable automaton capable of playing the hammered dulcimer.
From Belgium, the silver swan.
Consider that the life span of typical software is a few years at best. These devices are still working at 200 years or more.