In the late 20th century, near the port city of Tarragona in the Balearic sea, an underwater research expedition uncovered a shipwreck containing preserved manuscripts from Catalan scholars estimated to date between the 14th to 16th centuries. While the origin of the scripture is unknown, historians have found a semblance to writings by the 14th century philosopher Ramon Lull. The scripture referenced construction plans for an omnicognizant orrery with an unprecedented sophistication. In design reminiscent of the Antikythera, this analogue computer became a significant research problem for the following decade.
The research uncovered a startling breakthrough; previously inexplicable scripture from other mechanical thought systems could be understood, and even appears to allude to this device defined many centuries later. The earliest discovery to date is within the mediaeval Zairja, although some researchers suggest to have found evidence as far back as the palaeolithic era in mesopotamia. This has led some scholars to claim the device reveals a semantic universality. Within the field semantic enrichment, it is of great contention how these plans have transcribed history, with a faction even suggesting ancient extra-terrestrial interference.
Contributing to this mystery, the computations described pertain to a processing complexity in-executable at any time in history. The construction of the machine has only recently become possible due to advancements in microcontroller technology and machine learning within the previous five years.
Throughout their semantic enrichment research, Benjamin Shirley-Quirk and Matthew Woodham have sought to resolve epistemic uncertainty. Due to this discovery, and recent developments in the field, they have dedicated the last two years to interpreting the mysterious blueprints, building a prototype of this machine and analysing the verisimilitude of the meanings and predictions generated by its mechanism.
Supported by Artcore & New Midland Group's 'Collaborative Project Bursary' in 2019