Well, he still uses a computer to run his TeX program to write TAOCP, so I wouldn't exclude that he would build a computer. Also, it's not that complicated to

Well, he still uses a computer to run his TeX program to write TAOCP, so I wouldn't exclude that he would build a computer. Also, it's not that complicated to build an electromechanical computer. As I see it, the hardest part is making the magnets to generate electricity from a water mill. Then you only need some copper and to make a lot of wire out of it, and you can make electro magnets for the gates. (It seems to me to be even easier to build than Babbage's mechanical computers).