Silicon Valley’s Obsession with the Future Is Older Than You Think

In 996 AD, a Benedictine monk named Father Gerbert, who would later become Pope Sylvester II, created the first modern mechanical clock. It was a weight-driven device, likely powered by water. Sundials and water clocks were built in ancient Egypt, Asia, and Greece, but the technology had scattered after the fall of the Roman Empire. In Technics and Civi…