Jonathan Blow's talk 'Preventing the Collapse of Civilization' goes into detail about how technology can regress, with the Mechanism being one example. This kind of thing is far more common than we think, most would be surprised to learn that Ancient Greece had writing for about 600 years before forgetting it. There was no writing in Greece for over 400 years, until they adopted the Phoenician alphabet around 730 BC.
He compares this situation to the state of software development today. It's a sobering watch.
He compares this situation to the state of software development today. It's a sobering watch.
https://youtu.be/pW-SOdj4Kkk