The Knowledge thread
The Record, measures, maps, the calendar, the school, signals and printing. 60 entries, in the order they are reached.
Phase 01 — First days: water, fire, shelter Year 1 (days 1–7)
| 01.23 | Tally-post calendarone notch per day, the start of the record | year 1 |
| 01.25 | Knowledge rolleach person says what they know and can make, and two learners are named for every skill | year 1 |
Phase 02 — Stone, bone, wood and fibre toolkit Year 1 (weeks 2–6)
| 02.28 | Resource map of the islandwhere the flint, clay, ores, salt, coal and oil are | year 1 |
Phase 03 — Food security and the first camp Year 1
| 03.09 | Counting board and tally of the storesnumbers kept as marks; the food counted every evening | year 1 |
Phase 04 — Clay, kilns, charcoal and lime Years 1–2
| 04.05 | Clay tablets and charcoal on barkthe first writing; the Record before there is parchment | year 1 |
| 04.06 | Shadow stick, water clock and counted breathsagreed ways to time a process before there is a clock | year 1 |
Phase 05 — Copper and bronze Years 2–3
| 05.20 | Bronze bell, horn and signal flagsalarm, recall from the fields, messages between the settlements and to boats | year 3 |
Phase 07 — Carpentry, the village, measures and writing Years 4–9
| 07.01 | Standard measure of lengththe metre, rebuilt from memory: one master rod, with marked copies for every workshop | year 4 |
| 07.02 | Standard weights and volume measuresthe kilogram and the litre, tied to the metre through water | year 4 |
| 07.03 | Layout toolssquare, level, plumb line, dividers, chalk line | year 4 |
| 07.04 | Parchment, ink and pens | year 4 |
| 07.05 | The Recordevery process written and drawn; this book inside the story | year 4 |
| 07.06 | Register of births, deaths, pairings and family lineswho is kin to whom, and the settlement's memory of illness and accidents | year 4 |
| 07.08 | Sundial and year calendarhours, seasons, planting dates | year 5 |
| 07.09 | Lodestone and magnetic compass | year 5 |
| 07.11 | Surveying kitmeasuring chain, sighting cross, water level | year 5 |
| 07.23 | School and apprenticeshipevery child reads, reckons and draws, and learns two crafts | year 6 |
Phase 08 — Farming, cloth, leather and household industry Years 6–18
| 08.34 | Papercheap writing surface for drawings and records | year 14 |
| 08.35 | Iron-gall ink and bound bookspermanent copies of The Record | year 15 |
| 08.36 | Record housea fire-safe room for the Record, with a second copy kept in the other settlement | year 15 |
Phase 11 — Glass, chemistry, petroleum, rubber and cement Years 24–32
| 11.17 | Weather log and storm signalthe barometer read every day, and a signal hoisted when it falls fast | year 26 |
| 11.46 | Graphite productspencils, crucible mix, dry lubricant | year 29 |
Phase 12 — Precision and machine tools Years 30–36
| 12.16 | Calculating tables and slide rulegears, boilers, beams and windings designed by arithmetic | year 32 |
| 12.21 | Gauges, jigs and working drawingsparts made to fit without filing | year 33 |
| 12.22 | Hand printing press and cast typethe Record and the school books copied by the hundred | year 33 |
| 12.29 | Pendulum clocktime to the second | year 34 |
| 12.46 | Telescopethe stars and planets, ships far out at sea, and distant survey marks brought close | year 36 |
Phase 14 — Electricity, generators, motors and batteries Years 38–45
| 14.10 | Telegraphkey, sounder, relay and a wire that follows the wagonway and the road between the settlements, the mine and the works | year 39 |
| 14.33 | Telephonespeech along the telegraph poles | year 43 |
| 14.41 | Photographyglass plates, a lens and silver salts; the island's first true pictures, and a record of what the X-ray shows | year 44 |
Phase 15 — Railways, steam and electric cars, the power grid Years 43–50
| 15.29 | Radio transmittera valve makes a steady wave that carries speech across the island | year 47 |
| 15.30 | Radio receivera valve set and earphones in every settlement | year 48 |
| 15.33 | Motor-driven printing press and the printed Recordthe hand press driven by a motor; the manual itself, a copy in every house | year 48 |
Phase 18 — High-voltage lines, transmission towers and the multimeter Years 52–64
| 18.19 | Oscilloscopea beam of electrons draws the shape of a changing voltage on a glowing screen | year 64 |
Phase 19 — Roads, bridges, flyovers and tall buildings Years 55–100
| 19.01 | Theodolite and builder's levelangles and heights measured to a hair: a straight road, a level floor, a true tower | year 55 |
| 19.02 | Materials testing and structural calculationevery steel and concrete is pulled, crushed and bent until it breaks, and every beam is sized by sums before it is made | year 55 |
Phase 21 — Microphone, speaker, magnetic tape and the telephone exchange Years 58–85
| 21.02 | Manual telephone switchboardan operator joins any two telephones with a cord and a plug | year 58 |
| 21.08 | Long-distance line with valve repeatersan amplifier every few miles carries a voice the length of the island | year 61 |
| 21.09 | Public address systemone voice heard by a whole crowd | year 61 |
| 21.11 | Radio broadcasting station and studionews, music and lessons sent to every house at once | year 62 |
| 21.13 | Dial telephonethe caller's own finger sends the number as a train of clicks | year 63 |
| 21.14 | Telephone exchange equipmentbanks of switches step to each dialled figure and join the call without an operator | year 64 |
| 21.16 | Two-way radio for vehicles, boats and aircraftsender and receiver in one box: a moving crew speaks with its base | year 65 |
| 21.18 | Quartz crystal oscillator and quartz clocka slice of quartz rings at one exact pitch: stations keep their wavelength, and a clock keeps time to a second a year | year 68 |
| 21.20 | Tape player and recorderrecords, plays back at once, and wipes the tape for use again | year 72 |
| 21.21 | Cine camera, projector and sound filmmoving pictures on a strip of film, with the sound printed beside them | year 74 |
| 21.22 | Television camera and receivera picture sent line by line through the air and drawn again on a glowing screen | year 82 |
Phase 22 — The propeller airplane Years 62–80
| 22.02 | Wind tunnela fan drives air past a model wing and balances weigh its lift and its drag: the wing is right before anyone flies it | year 62 |
| 22.13 | Weather forecast service with balloonsinstruments sent up every day on balloons, readings gathered by radio, a forecast given to pilots, sailors and farmers | year 68 |
| 22.16 | Control tower, radio beacon and runway lightsaircraft are guided by voice, find their way by radio, and land at night | year 70 |
| 22.17 | Aerial photography and mappingthe whole island photographed from above and drawn from the pictures | year 70 |
| 22.20 | Radarradio pulses bounce back from an aircraft or a ship: it is seen in darkness and fog, and its distance is read from a screen | year 76 |
Phase 23 — Logic gates, ferrite core memory and the valve computer Years 72–100
| 23.01 | Typewriter and teleprinterletters struck by keys, and the same keys working a distant printer over a wire: the keyboard's first form | year 72 |
| 23.02 | Desk calculating machinea box of geared wheels that adds, subtracts, multiplies and divides at the turn of a handle | year 73 |
| 23.03 | Punched cards and tabulating machinefacts kept as holes in cards, and machines that sort and count them: a count of the whole island in weeks | year 75 |
| 23.04 | Punched paper tape, its code, punch and readera message or a list of orders kept as rows of holes in a paper ribbon | year 76 |
| 23.05 | Two-state numbers and the algebra of logicevery number written with two signs only, and every yes-or-no question worked out by rule: the mathematics the machines are built on | year 78 |
| 23.06 | Relay calculatora room of relays that works through a long sum by itself, from a tape of orders | year 80 |
| 23.28 | Computer built with valvesa stored-program machine in the manner of the Manchester University Mark II: some thousands of valves do in a second what a room of clerks does in a day | year 94 |
| 23.29 | Programmingan instruction code, a library of ready-made routines, and a simpler language that the machine itself turns into its code | year 95 |