The mystification of what computers do is a worrying trend. Trend? When have the masses ever had a clear grasp on computation? Quoth Babbage: On two occasions

The mystification of what computers do is a worrying trend. Trend? When have the masses ever had a clear grasp on computation? Quoth Babbage: On two occasions I have been asked,—"Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" In one case a member of the Upper, and in the other a member of the Lower, House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.