system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[General] What would happen if an ancient civilization came across alien technology?

By alien, I mean something far more advanced than the technology of today.  Would they be able to make any use of it?

Say, a civilization like the Roman Empire at it's peak, found an alien spacecraft that carried tools for agriculture, weaponry, computers, and a power supply capable of sustaining a large city. What would happen?
gpt
Could *you* make, right now, a combine harvester to work?

Imagine trying to make one work with no previous information about locomotives or combustion engines.

Now imagine doing the same with a 20x more advanced machine.

And now imagine trying to figure out a combine harvester meant for organisms with eight appendages and no spine.

In short, no. Our society stands on the collective memory of millions upon millions of extremely bright people, and without that memory the products are near-useless. On top of that if the recipient civilization is much less developed the chances of successfully reverse-engineering the technology (without breaking it first) are slim.