11–20 of 31 posts
Way past time to make one powered directly by horses. We have the tools. We have the technology.
This is kind of a challenge. There have been several electro-mechanical computers that were "programmable" in the modern sense. I've never heard of one that was purely mechanical. I guess Babbage's analytical engine would qualify, but it hasn't been built yet, so who knows if it would actually work? Way past time to make one powered directly by horses. We have the tools. We have the technology.
first useful programs were knitting mills and carpet machines around 1800 - there was no conditional logic, just a long loop of effectively what were just print statements. See jacquard looms on wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom#/media/File:Jacq... first real program is often attributed to Countess Ada Lovelace, in describing operations of the Babbage machine in 1843. She even had a bug in her "…
So what you're saying is, Jacquard beat Adobe to PDF by nearly 200 years?
This is kind of a challenge. There have been several electro-mechanical computers that were "programmable" in the modern sense. I've never heard of one that was purely mechanical. I guess Babbage's analytical engine would qualify, but it hasn't been built yet, so who knows if it would actually work? Way past time to make one powered directly by horses. We have the tools. We have the technology.
I agree. This is what I was looking to explore.
If having the operator manually re-configure parts counts as programming, then we've probably already achieved purely mechanical value.
If we set the bar a little higher to a bonafide Turing machine, then I think you've thrown down the gauntlet.
[deleted]
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. This is what I was looking to explore.
It would help the thread to get a tighter definition of what would qualify as programming. If having the operator manually re-configure parts counts as programming, then we've probably already achieved purely mechanical value. If we set the bar a little higher to a bonafide Turing machine, then I think you've thrown down the gauntlet.
Devices like the Curta are beautiful, as a deleted comment mentioned, but how would we move past those? Distributed systems, databases (written journals?) etc? What value do these have outside electricity?
We did.
It just turns out digital > mechanical.
Thanks to Shannon and many others, we figured out we should 'pack more' into tinier spaces (circuits [0]), using less symbols (binary [1]).
Another such leap would require moving past current limits of physics understanding.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor#Comparison_with_vac...
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69-YUSazuic&list=PLbg3ZX2pWl...
Devices like the Curta are beautiful, as a deleted comment mentioned, but how would we move past those? Distributed systems, databases (written journals?) etc? What value do these have outside electricity?
> how would we move past those? We did. It just turns out digital > mechanical. Thanks to Shannon and many others, we figured out we should 'pack more' into tinier spaces (circuits [0]), using less symbols (binary [1]). Another such leap would require moving past current limits of physics understanding. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor#Comparison_with_vac... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69-YUSazuic…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would help the thread to get a tighter definition of what would qualify as programming. If having the operator manually re-configure parts counts as programming, then we've probably already achieved purely mechanical value. If we set the bar a little higher to a bonafide Turing machine, then I think you've thrown down the gauntlet.
To be honest, I had been pondering about how I personally put so much energy in learning, exploring software etc, yet it seems to depend on, at it’s core, a few other important innovations. It’s like saying I’m a speech therapist, but Darwin decides not to bring a mouth, tongue, or hands to write with. When the lights go out, is it relevant?
Only things I see left in the "relevant" column by then would be how painlessly you get to go and your relationship with Jesus Christ.