Posts Tagged 'history'

Babbage and Turing: Two Paths to Inventing the Computer

Posted on April 29th, 2021 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion, Off-topic

A younger me at the Babbage difference engine built by the Science Museum Success has many fathers, and so it is hardly surprising that there are numerous claimants to the title “inventor of the computer”. These include innovators like Aiken (constructor of the Harvard Mark I, 1944), Zuse (Z1, 1938), Atanasoff and Berry (ABC, 1942), Flowers (Colossus, 1943), and Mauchly and Eckert (ENIAC, 1946). But two men stand out, head and shoulders above all of them: Charles Babbage and Alan Turing. These two Englishmen invented the computer from scratch, but unlike the others, both failed to construct an actual machine.. Read more

Progress and Pig-Headedness in COVID-19 vaccination

Posted on December 29th, 2020 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion, Off-topic

Well, at long last we have a COVID-19 vaccine – many of them, of which two are FDA-approved – and a vaccination drive is underway, just in time for the new year. I just got my first shot! Edward Jenner vaccinating his son. Note the cow outside! Colored engraving by C. Manigaud. [Source] Here I want to share some thoughts and observations about the vaccine situation. Soon after the pandemic became a thing I listed in my newsletter some ways that this pandemic, or rather our war against it, is different from earlier historical ones. One way I noted was.. Read more

The Butlerian Jihad and the Dangers of Artificial Intelligence

Posted on September 29th, 2019 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Those of us who grew up with 1960’s Science Fiction remember well Frank Herbert’s Magnum Opus, Dune. That amazing book laid the groundwork for much environmentalist thinking, and has been an inspiration for an entire generation of fans. The story’s feudal interstellar society, taking place thousands of years in our future, has very advanced capabilities, notably faster than light travel; yet one thing is missing: there are no computers anywhere (except for the mentats, who are specially trained human computers). The reason there are no computers in Dune’s universe is hinted at repeatedly in the book: it is the outcome.. Read more

What I Do in my Spare Time

Posted on April 1st, 2019 · Posted in Off-topic

If you read this blog you know that besides helping organizations eliminate Information Overload, I lecture about innovation in the history of computing and curate exhibitions in science museums that deal with the history of technology. What you may not know is that my main hobby these past 15 years is collecting and researching items form the history of computing, which has informed these activities. You can see part of my collection on my hobby site, here. Now Lele Terenzani, IBM’s “Dr. Connections” and a member of the Information Overload Research Group’s steering committee, has interviewed me in a webcast.. Read more

The Arrival of The Silence

Posted on April 29th, 2018 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion, Impact and Symptoms

Dinnertime – 60 years ago The drawing below was made by Giuseppe Novello (1897–1988), a noted Italian cartoonist of times past that you most likely aren’t acquainted with. In his long career he used the medium of the newspaper cartoon to dissect the daily life realities of middle class society, with all its little joys and sorrows, its hypocrisies and hardships. Novello did this with a piercing perception, which one could call ruthless if it weren’t for its deep underlying humanity. I am fortunate to own the set of his works, and you can read about them at http://www.nzeldes.com/Miscellany/Novello.htm. THE SILENCE.. Read more

Email, Digital Photography, and the Hole in our Historical Record

Posted on April 30th, 2017 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion, Impact and Symptoms

Letters from the past One fine day in the 20th century BCE Ilabrat-bani, an Assyrian merchant from Kültepe in Anatolia, wrote to one Amur-ili a letter concerning shipments of textiles, and providing advice for travel. The letter, written in cuneiform on a clay tablet, survived to reach present day historians and inform their research. On June 8th of 1511 Piero Venier, a merchant living in Sicily, penned a letter to his sisters in Venice. It contained his observations from an Auto de Fe he’d witnessed in Palermo, where the Spanish Inquisition burned at the stake conversos suspected of heresy amid.. Read more

What would Ada Lovelace think of Knowmail?

Posted on November 3rd, 2015 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion, Individual Solutions

This post was first published on the Knowmail blog. Cross-posted with permission.   The computer will never be creative or intelligent by itself; it can only do what we tell it to do. I like to call this statement “The Frankenstein clause”: it plays down the primal fear we humans have of our machines getting better than us, then taking over the world. Basically it says, “Move along, folks… Nothing to worry about, we’re the real brains here… These dumb computers will always obey us…” This statement was made by many during the 20th century, but the first to articulate.. Read more

The two Faces of Anytime, Anywhere

Posted on February 14th, 2014 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion, Individual Solutions, Organizational Solutions

A cool idea (or so we thought) … It really did sound like a great concept at the time: Work Anytime, Anywhere! Catchy slogans like that always sound good, like Andy Grove’s prediction in the nineties of “Free MIPS, Free Bauds” (which is pretty close to reality by now). And the concept of being able to do your work from anywhere as if you were in the office, and at any time of your choosing rather than 9-to-5, seemed particularly cool – so liberating and exhilarating! We in IT were certainly delivering the capability. Admittedly secure remote access was a.. Read more

Konrad Zuse, Alan Turing, and the World’s First Computer Startup

Posted on October 18th, 2013 · Posted in Startups

Having a hobby you’re passionate about is important. Having a job you’re passionate about is important. And if you’re lucky, there will be a congruence that allows work and hobby to cross-fertilize each other. My hobby of many years is the study of the history of computing technology (you can see some of my collection on my hobby site), and it’s ended up merging with my work. It enriched a number of my lectures – this one, for instance – by providing an unusual treasure of innovative examples; and it led to engagements as curator and scientific consultant for cool.. Read more

CAPTCHA: A Wonderful Adventure in Exhibition Space

Posted on April 7th, 2013 · Posted in Off-topic

Somehow my career has repeatedly led me into doing unexpected and wonderful things. One such piece of serendipity has been the role I landed at the Jerusalem Science Museum as the curator of an exhibition in honor of Alan Turing. This project took a year and half, and gave me the occasion to work with some amazing people at the museum, interact with many more from around the world, and learn so much about that tragic genius, Alan Turing, of which I wrote here before. Now we’re finally done, and the exhibition is open to the public. It wasn’t my.. Read more