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Frame from Building The World's First Computer - Greeks, Clocks and Rockets - Antikythera Mechanism Episode 1 Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Building The World's First Computer - Greeks, Clocks and Rockets - Antikythera Mechanism Episode 1

3 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
7 HN users recommended this documentary5 months2018–2024 score 6.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN repeatedly recommends the series for its extraordinary craftsmanship and its credible demonstration of how the mechanism could have been made.

The first episode of Clickspring's series on reproducing the Antikythera Mechanism by hand, laying out the plan and the history. The series follows a machinist building the ancient Greek device with traditional tools and methods.

“Highly recommend for anyone who is fascinated by the care that goes into handmade mechanical devices.” (HN, 2018)

3 strong recommendations · 4 recommendations · 3 citations · Documentaries

10 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@btown Nov 2018 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Missing Piece of Antikythera Mechanism Found on Aegean Seabed
Non-paywall link: [link] This reminds me of one of my favorite YouTube channels, Clickspring: an inspiring clockmaker and machinist who's currently documenting a full reproduction of the Antikythera Mechanism: [this video] . Highly recommend for anyone who is fascinated by the care that goes into handmade mechanical devices.
Handmade reproduction of Antikythera mechanism with extraordinary care.
@abainbridge Jul 2019 Strongly recommends
on HN thread The “greased sled” theory of Stonehenge
If you want some archaeological engineering theories that aren't obviously wrong, I highly recommend this youtube series about how the Antikythera mechanism could have been made. [this video] It's the complete antithesis of this pig fat hogwash.
Credible theory of how the mechanism could be made.
@wincy Mar 2021 Recommends
on HN thread YouTube and Patreon Still Aren’t Paying the Rent for Most Creatives
If deep domain knowledge paid off on Youtube people like Ben Eater would be a millionaire from Youtube at this point[0], his videos are so cool and great at explaining computing. Or Clickspring, the guy who made the Antikythera Mechanism [1]. But honestly even for me being a software engineer and someone who considers himself interested in this sort of stuff, I look at these pages sometimes out of wonder but I often end up watching comedy videos and stuff like that on Youtube. The algorithm recommends it, and I watch. [0] [link] [1] [this video]
Deep-domain creator who deserves more income.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@qohen Jun 2020 Cites it
on HN thread Ask HN: Building a Computer in Jesus's Time
Perhaps not exactly what you have in mind, but there is the Antikythera mechanism [0][1], the first known analog computer, dating back to about 100-200 BCE which exhibits gear-work that one doesn't see for another 1500 years or so. The device calculates the phases of the moon and the motion of the known planets and more for any date over a 76 year cycle. It takes into account the retrograde motion of Mars, can calculate the dates of eclipses, etc. There are videos on YouTube showing how it is supposed to have worked, e.g. [2]. [0] [link] [1] [link] [2] [this video]
Shows how the mechanism is supposed to have worked.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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