Technological advances BEFORE 1820?

[Red Ryder]

Today a few of us NOMs got together for lunch and had a great time laughing at the absurdity of Mormonism.

The subject drifted to technology and the idea that more advances have been made since the church was restored in 1820. We’ve all heard about the computer coming forth so that genealogy can be done, right?

What technological advances occurred before 1820?

Mid evil Tinder?
Farmers.com?

[blazerb]

The first thing that popped into my head was the printing press. I did a search and found this page of inventions in the 18th century:
http://www.theinventors.org/library/inv ... 0Scotland.

Some of the highlights for me:
Jethro Tull invented the seed drill. (Now I need to listen to some rock and roll flute)
Thomas Newcomen and James Watt invented steam engines
John Harrison invented the marine chronometer
The soft drink was invented in 1798, not really technology maybe.

Anyway there was a lot that was going on before 1820 The notion that God kept the world from improving until He could have a conversation with JS is false.

[nibbler]

Scientology started in 1953 and there were even more rapid technological advances since then. L. Ron Hubbard must have ushered in the real restoration.

[Zeezrom]

Lol you can’t beat Mormon apologists that way. I remember being one. The orthodox story is that every advancement pre-1820 was to set the stage for the Grand First (Second,Third,Edited for a new audience…….etc) Vision. God had his hand on everyone from Christopher Columbus through George Washington in order to create the perfect conditions for the rise of Joseph Smith.

I used to wonder a little however when I’d hear all the stories of all the “persecution” JS suffered what would imperfect conditions for bringing forth the restoration look like???

[2bizE]

The chastity belt was developed in the 16th century but unfortunately was not used by the girls Joseph Smith was courting to be his polygamous wives.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chastity_belt

[blazerb]

Lol you can’t beat Mormon apologists that way. I remember being one. The orthodox story is that every advancement pre-1820 was to set the stage for the Grand First (Second,Third,Edited for a new audience…….etc) Vision. God had his hand on everyone from Christopher Columbus through George Washington in order to create the perfect conditions for the rise of Joseph Smith.

I used to wonder a little however when I’d hear all the stories of all the “persecution” JS suffered what would imperfect conditions for bringing forth the restoration look like???

You're right. The exercise was mostly for myself. I know this would not have convinced me when I was TBM, but I found it interesting to see how much happened that long ago. I had some timelines that were seriously off.

My guess is that imperfect conditions would be anything contrary to reality so they can always see the hand of Providence.

[Hagoth]

Michael Faraday had cracked the properties of electricity and magnetism by 1820, but he didn't build the first electric motor until 1821, so I guess we have to credit that to Joseph Smith.

[Just This Guy]

Such a claim basically just shows a total lack of understanding in history and how innovation works.

Innovation is not a spontaneous occurrence. Every invention is based on previous work by combining ideas and existing technology in a new way. FOr example, James Watt's steam engine was an improvement on existing steam engine technology. The idea of a using steam to generate angular momentum goes back to ancient Greece. Printing presses had been around for over a thousand years, but Gutenburg used metal working techniques common in gold smithing to create moveable type that made printing much more economical.

Another big claim in Mormoism is that the world lost technology after the fall of Rome. Hence the "dark ages" where the world technology level actually fell for a few hundred years. Again, history really doesn't support the idea. What the fall of Rome did was to loose the ability to marshal large militarys for extremely large scale building projects. Technology didn't really go away. The loss of a strong central government and military actually spurred innovation in other areas like ship building.

A few idea of World changing Inventions prior to 1820:

The idea of Zero as used in modern math. ~700AD
Watt Steam Engine - 1765
First Steam Locomotive - 1805
Microscope - 1644
Optical Telescope - 1608
Magnetic Compass - 1088
Modern understanding of Electricity - 1600
Powered loom - 1785
Jacquard loom - 1801
Carbon Arc light - 1805

[moksha]

Another big claim in Mormonism is that the world lost technology after the fall of Rome. Hence the "dark ages" where the world technology level actually fell for a few hundred years.

Didn't Mormons claim the Dark Ages were less valiant in the Heaven War?

[Hagoth]

Such a claim basically just shows a total lack of understanding in history and how innovation works.

Innovation is not a spontaneous occurrence. Every invention is based on previous work by combining ideas and existing technology in a new way.

Seer stone + child labor = iPhone

[moksha]

Mormons once embraced Eli Whitney's cotton gin but slacked off following the word of wisdom.