 When we think of the world from a few thousand years ago, we think about Christ and his struggle. We believe this was a Biblical period based on supernatural events from a holy being. We think like this because we are programmed to remember through false teachings. We are sort of brainwashed in that sense one way or another. It can only be presumed that there is some history that they don't want people to know about. In other words, we are being lied to about the real history of planet Earth. Like the burning of the library at Alexandria, keeping the public in the dark has come to be a feature of our current world rulers. It could almost be presumed that there is information that would cause a loss of control and power to manipulate realistic outcomes if known. But our history does not have to all be doom and gloom. Technology is part of our past, whether ancient or modern. Science constantly improves methods of research and invention from one generation to the next, no matter how suppressed our reality becomes. These are our 6 ancient inventions that still influence the modern world. Wait till you hear this. In at number 6, Mathematics. Now maths is a strange thing to think as an invention. It could actually be more a discovery that we are still uncovering the secrets to. But we will tell you about its origins out of sheer importance to the development of the human race. Mathematical thought lies in the concepts of number, magnitude, and form. The idea of the number concept evolving gradually over time is supported by the existence of languages which preserve the distinctions between one, two, and many, but not of numbers larger than two. The historic artifacts discovered in Africa dating to 20,000 years old or more suggest early attempts to quantify time. The Oshango bone found near the headwaters of the Nile River may be more than 20,000 years old and consist of a series of tally marks carved in three columns running the length of the bone. Common interpretations are that the Oshango bone shows either the earliest known demonstration of sequences of prime numbers or a 6 month lunar calendar. So understanding maths started from a very primitive understanding. As our knowledge grew, so did our understanding. We are still uncovering the secrets of maths today. And if five on our list, the incredible 2,000 year old earthquake detector, before the days of the Richter scale and the Carlos Monza Ferrada, we had no way of measuring or predicting earthquakes, right? You may be surprised to learn that a Chinese inventor developed a method of detecting earthquakes over 2,000 years ago. The ancient Chinese did not understand that earthquakes were caused by the shifting of tectonic plates in the Earth's crust. Instead, the people explained them as disturbances with cosmic yin and yang along with the heavens displeasure with acts by the current ruling dynasty. The ancient Chinese believed seismic events were important signs from heaven, so it was important for the ancient leaders to be alerted to earthquakes occurring anywhere in their kingdom. Zhang's seismoscope was a giant bronze vessel resembling a samovar almost six feet in diameter. Eight dragons snaked face down along the outside of the barrel marking the primary compass direction, and each dragon's mouth was a small bronze ball. Beneath the dragons sat eight bronze toads, with their broad mouths gaping to receive the balls. The exact mechanism that caused a ball to drop in the event of an earthquake is still unknown. One theory is that a thin stick was set loosely down the center of the barrel. An earthquake would cause the stick to topple over in the direction of the seismic shock, triggering one of the dragons to open its mouth and release the bronze ball. The sound of the ball striking one of the eight toads would alert observers to the earthquake and would give a rough indication of the earthquake's direction of origin. Today, from an advanced modern science and technology point of view, the seismometer Zhang invented is still considered amazingly refined and remarkable and way ahead of its time. At four, democratic government. 2,500 years ago, the great Athenian general Pericles coined the phrase about the government of the nation being in the hands of the many and not the few. Athens was the first city-state to allow ordinary citizens access to government offices and courts. In theory, all Athenian citizens were eligible to speak and vote in the assembly which set the laws of the city-state. Amazingly, it was not until 1215 that a glimpse of democracy was seen as possible when King John was forced to sign and agree to uphold the Magna Carta document. And at three, the written way of communication. Communication begins with language, the distinctive ability which has made possible the evolution of human society. We can't imagine a world without speech or the understanding of words. But when did written communication begin to take hold? Writing is the physical manifestation of a spoken language. It is thought that human beings develop language around 35,000 BC as evidenced by K paintings from the period of the Crow Magnum Man, which appear to express concepts concerning daily life. These images suggest a language because, in some instances, they seem to tell a story rather than being simply pictures of animals and people. Written language, however, does not emerge until its invention in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia around 3500 BC. This early writing was called cuneiform and consisted of making specific marks in wet clay with a reed implement. The writing system of the Egyptians was already in use before the rise of the early dynastic period and is thought to have developed from Mesopotamia cuneiform and came to be known as hieroglyphics. These are complex methods to us now, but at one time these writings would have been familiar to millions. It set the foundation to writing systems by which we have evolved to today. 2. The Antikythera Mechanism In the year 1900, a group of sponge divers discovered by accident one of the most complex mechanisms from the ancient world, the Antikythera Mechanism. Some say the device is in fact the world's first computer. It dates back to around 100 years BC and scientists are only now beginning to reveal its secrets with advancements in X-ray and 3D imaging techniques. The prevailing theory is that the device was a clockwork-like mechanism designed to display the progress and position of the sun, moon and probably all five of the other planets known at the time, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn over a period of 19 years. In other words, it's an analog astronomical computer. The Antikythera Mechanism proves that the ancient Greeks used complex arrangements of precisely cut wheels to represent the latest in scientific understanding. It's also a window into how the Greeks saw their universe. And finally, number one on our list, gunpowder. You may find it ironic that it was a quest for immortality that led to the invention of the deadliest weapon before the arrival of the atomic bomb. Experimenting with life-l strengthening elixirs around AD 850, Chinese alchemists instead discovered gunpowder. Their explosive invention would become the basis for almost every weapon used in war from that point on, from fiery arrows to rifles, cannons and grenades. Gunpowder was quickly put to use by the reigning Song dynasty against the Mongols, whose constant invasion into the country plagued the Chinese throughout the period. The Mongols were the first to be subject to flying fire, an arrow fixed with a tube of gunpowder that ignited and would propel itself across enemy lines. More gunpowder-based weapons were invented by the Chinese and perfected against the Mongols in the next centuries, including the first cannons and grenades. The psychological effect alone of the mystifying new technology likely helped the Chinese win battles against the Mongols. Gunpowder somehow remained a monopoly of the Chinese until the 13th century when the science was passed along the ancient silk trade route to Europe and the Islamic world, where it became a deciding factor in many middle-age skirmishes. By 1350, rudimentary gunpowder cannons were a commonplace in the English and French militaries, which used the technology against each other during the Hundred Years War. The Ottoman Turks also employed gunpowder cannons with abandon during their successful siege of Constantinople in 1453. The powerful new weapon essentially rendered the traditional walled fortifications of Europe impregnable for centuries, weak and defenseless. The next important step for gunpowder came when it was inserted into the barrel of a handgun, which first appeared in the mid-15th century and was essentially a cannon shrunk down to portable size. Guns literally put weaponry into the hands of the individual, creating a new class of soldier infantry and giving birth to the modern army. Gunpowder is still the basis for many modern weapons, including guns, though it's no longer the most explosive force available to armies. However, on the 4th of July, at New Years, and Guy Fawkes Night, gunpowder will always be king and continues to be used at the heart of every nation's celebratory events in that sense. Gunpowder is the single invention that changed the world and still continues as an influence in the modern world. Those are our 6 ancient inventions that shook the modern world. We hope you enjoyed the show. What ancient invention can you guys think of that shook the modern world? Comments below. As always, thank you for watching and remember, the ways by which we arrive at knowledge are hardly less wonderful than the discovery of these things themselves.