Script itself wasn't invented for poetry or stories or history but for bookkeeping. Who owns how much and who own whom what amount? Let's write it down.
It has broken edges not because of weathering and age, but because it was thrown to the ground when the self referencing formula kept locking the whole database up.
During the period this tablet was made, letters were also written in clay. My favorite part of this is clay envelopes were also made for documents, and they sometimes contained similar information that we place on envelopes now. Other times they had a condensed version of the document instead
It's actually kind of interesting, they used wax tablets as scratchpads back then. This practice actually continued well into the early modern era because paper, parchment, and vellum were quite expensive and people wanted something that could easily be erased. So most likely they would have written the calculations in wax and only put the final results in clay. By the way, cuneiform tablets are essentially pottery, not rocks. They were basically clay versions of the wax tablets I linked that got fired in kilns for preservation.
If you write things down instead of just remembering them, you'll lose your ability to remember anything at all and will eventually start forgetting what you want to write by the time your chisel touches the stone!
Plus think of all the wasted rocks whenever you make a mistake and need to start over! What if we run out of rocks?? What will we stand on then?
32 Comments
lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 69 pts · 278d
Script itself wasn't invented for poetry or stories or history but for bookkeeping. Who owns how much and who own whom what amount? Let's write it down.
DonEladio@feddit.org · 25 pts · 278d
For Accounting. Don't let your accountant friends know. They are never gonna shut up about it.
ProbablyBaysean@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 277d
Ehh, double entry accounting being invented at 3000 bc was a basic part of most accounting 101 classes.
Cethin@lemmy.zip · 18 pts · 278d
I know it's a typo, but "who owns whom" is also correct...
DaMonsterKnees@lemmy.world · 52 pts · 278d
This is actually a moon mining ROI breakdown from Eve Online. Long story short, you lose one drone and you've wasted an hour.
But seriously, great share, thanks!
DonEladio@feddit.org · 45 pts · 278d
Its actually the Plimpton 322 is a Babylonian clay tablet, believed to have been written around 1800 BC, that contains a mathematical table written in cuneiform script. Each row of the table relates to a Pythagorean triple, that is, a triple of integers that satisfies the Pythagorean theorem, the rule that equates the sum of the squares of the legs of a right triangle to the square of the hypotenuse. The era in which Plimpton 322 was written was roughly 13 to 15 centuries prior to the era in which the major Greek discoveries in geometry were made.
MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 278d
Wow, a million years ago.
stray@pawb.social · 2 pts · 276d
They don't look the same; like the number of columns is off, for example. A reverse image search sent me to a Reddit thread that sent me here:
https://www.datafix.com.au/BASHing/2020-08-12.html
bogosort@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 278d
Rorq moon mining in TYOOL 2025? Has it become viable again? I thought excavators are now like 130mil, but I haven't played in a few years
Gork@sopuli.xyz · 28 pts · 278d
I like that you can still sorta tell that the universal convention is preserved where the last column is for comments.
Rhaedas@fedia.io · 21 pts · 278d
It has broken edges not because of weathering and age, but because it was thrown to the ground when the self referencing formula kept locking the whole database up.
teft@piefed.social · 21 pts · 278d
Genesis 1.0:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the excel.
Una@europe.pub · 14 pts · 278d
God originally used excel to plan the creation of everything.
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 11 pts · 278d
He's still learning how to use it, too
bufalo1973@piefed.social · 4 pts · 276d
God created VisiCalc. Then Satan mocked it and created Excel.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 276d
the world is actually a database, i believe. reality (the material world around us) is just the user interface.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 277d
It's called a ledger
Klear@quokk.au · 19 pts · 278d
Wait until this guy learns how people used to send letters instead of emails and that paper was used instead of word.
FoxyFerengi@startrek.website · 15 pts · 278d
During the period this tablet was made, letters were also written in clay. My favorite part of this is clay envelopes were also made for documents, and they sometimes contained similar information that we place on envelopes now. Other times they had a condensed version of the document instead
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 276d
I always say "People have been people for as long as there have been people," which means this guy's boss was a dickhead, too.
Psythik@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 277d
How do formulas work on a physical spreadsheet?
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 277d
You calculate it yourself.
Psythik@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 276d
Where? On a separate rock?
markovs_gun@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 276d
It's actually kind of interesting, they used wax tablets as scratchpads back then. This practice actually continued well into the early modern era because paper, parchment, and vellum were quite expensive and people wanted something that could easily be erased. So most likely they would have written the calculations in wax and only put the final results in clay. By the way, cuneiform tablets are essentially pottery, not rocks. They were basically clay versions of the wax tablets I linked that got fired in kilns for preservation.
Agent641@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 276d
If you're not dual-rocking you're just wasting efficiency
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 276d
If you write things down instead of just remembering them, you'll lose your ability to remember anything at all and will eventually start forgetting what you want to write by the time your chisel touches the stone!
Plus think of all the wasted rocks whenever you make a mistake and need to start over! What if we run out of rocks?? What will we stand on then?
BanMe@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 276d
Yes and you need to sign into that rock using Authenticator or it won't let you put it down unerased.
Darkness343@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 276d
In your own mind? I mean, it shouldn't even be a question.
bufalo1973@piefed.social · 1 pts · 276d
On the sand/ground.
SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 277d
That's so sexagesimal
someguy3@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 278d
Visicalc.
tgirlschierke@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 276d
Not sure whether to be disappointed or relieved that people in this community don't recognise that this is a Blood Meridian quote.