-1

At some point before life crawled out of the ocean, some alien alchemist managed to turn all of the lead on the earth into gold. Galena becomes some sort of Electrum, and any existing Anglesite and Cerussite separate into gold and sulfates or carbonates. What are the most significant (history/paradigm-changing) technological advancements that would be stunted or stopped entirely without the existence of terrestrial lead?

The easy implications seem to be:

  1. Gold is 3500x more plentiful by mass, so it probably never becomes a precious metal. Likewise, it likely replaces copper in electrical applications.
  2. Certain types of glazed ceramics may never have been created.
  3. Plumbing (and thus metropolises) would have taken longer to be invented, as gold is nowhere near as ductile for use as pipes in aquaducts.
  4. The printing press would be significantly delayed, as nothing is quite as cheap and suited for printmaking as lead lettering blocks.

What other significant technological advancements would have been changed by both lead not existing and gold being 3500x more plentiful?

Carduus
  • 2,252
  • 8
  • 19
  • 3
    I think this is REALLY broad - you're asking to track down and document all uses of lead throughout history and try and think of what would change if it wasn't there. That would also have impact on later uses of lead. At the same time, gold would be plentiful which itself has an impact on manufacturing and economics. – VLAZ Mar 07 '19 at 14:28
  • AFAIK question like "What effect would X have on society" are considered too broad. Maybe you could narrow it down to a single field of lead application and the consequences in that field? – DarthDonut Mar 07 '19 at 14:33
  • The related questions on the side of this page probably have all the answers you will need. – Trevor Mar 07 '19 at 14:38
  • 3
    "That site" is not trustworthy in matters historical. FYI, Julius Caesar's (legitimate) bloodline ended with him, but not because of sterility. He had a daughter who died before him, and, a son who was assassinated (after Caesar's death) for political reasons. Octavian and the subsequent emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty were not descended from Julius Caesar. Moreover, in the Roman Empire (before the 3rd century or thereabouts) the transmission of imperial power from father to son was much more an exception than a rule, the empire being officially a republic. – AlexP Mar 07 '19 at 14:39
  • I have narrowed it down to 'most significant technological advances' in hopes of narrowing it down. And I have removed the Caesar reference, @AlexP. – Carduus Mar 07 '19 at 21:15
  • "The printing press would be significantly delayed, as nothing is quite as cheap and suited for printmaking as lead lettering blocks." No, it wouldn't they'd use gold for printmaking instead & it would be even cheaper than lead was because you've replaced all the led with gold, so you now have (more or less) as much gold as you had led plus the gold that was already there, supply & demand one-O-one. – Pelinore Mar 10 '19 at 21:39
  • "Plumbing (and thus metropolises) would have taken longer to be invented, as gold is nowhere near as ductile for use as pipes in aquaducts." Gold is more than ductile enough for those purposes, so no, it really wouldn't have taken any longer for that reason. – Pelinore Mar 10 '19 at 21:42
  • Just about every use for lead would be replaced by gold ~ musket balls etc ~ there'll be no lead poisoning from old water pipes etc ~ it would never have been considered valuable or used for coins ~ platinum & then silver would be the most valuable metals in the ancient world ~ surely you can work this stuff out yourself? – Pelinore Mar 10 '19 at 22:02
  • @Pelinore My question wasn't whether or not my specific guesses would be significant technological advancements, but what significant technological advances would change. If my guesses are poor, that's more evidence that I need help, not less. – Carduus Mar 11 '19 at 12:52
  • @Carduus - In that case ^ I would suggest there would be no technological changes, gold is adequate for purpose for anything & everything we've ever used lead for, really, the absence of lead poisoning from lead water pipes & lead based paints would be a serious advantage (which might have considerable knock on effects on infant mortality & population growth etc in places like early Rome), that's all for gross "physical" uses of lead mind.. lead based paint using gold instead? that one I couldn't comment on. – Pelinore Mar 11 '19 at 13:02
  • ^ But we've always had a wide range of paints that were not lead based so I don't see legitimate reason that industry (or tech) will be effected either way (paint? you can use gold / you can't use gold = doesn't matter). – Pelinore Mar 11 '19 at 13:08
  • significant historical deaths attributed to lead poisoning I was looking for significant individuals (imagine if someone of historic importance like Napoleon didn't die when they did, his was cyanide poisoning from paint but you get the idea, a second escape & a 3rd bite at the domination of Europe if he hadn't?) but this is also significant, 256,000 premature deaths a year in the US alone, global warming might come sooner :) – Pelinore Mar 11 '19 at 13:20
  • Beethoven may have died from Lead poisoning ~ lead poisoning can also cause "decreased cognitive performance" (science may have advanced a little bit faster without it?) & "anti-social behavior" (just a few significant individuals like emperors & kings not having lead poisoning (if they did) might mean a few less wars throughout history, fewer deaths from war & global warming hits early again perhaps?) etc. – Pelinore Mar 11 '19 at 13:46
  • ^ Though I don't think a lack of lead (when replaced by an equivalent quantity of gold) will have a significant impact on science & technology I do think the absence of lead poisoning throughout history may have some significant historic & socio-economic knock on effects on the world. – Pelinore Mar 11 '19 at 13:54

1 Answers1

1

I would also add that gold is more resistant to corrosion than most other metals, and gold coating would be common. There would be less need for paint and the yellow glitter would be common.

Christmas Snow
  • 5,727
  • 9
  • 29