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I have been reading The Dream Machine by Waldrop recently (great book!) that discusses Bush's pivotal role in the development of computing...which has a remarka
by refset 3y ago
I have been reading The Dream Machine by Waldrop recently (great book!) that discusses Bush's pivotal role in the development of computing...which has a remarkable irony:
> Doggedly, and without success, [Bush] kept on trying to come up with a workable analog design for his Memex until his death, in 1973. And until the end, his colleagues could hear him grumbling about the "damn digital computer."
- jdougan 3y agoHe wasn't wrong that digital computers weren't doing what he wanted. Still aren't.
- nonrandomstring 3y agoWhat is beautiful reading this, in 2023, at my age, is the perspective for me. I actually grew up with people of that (1945) era. In the early 1970s most of the old folk in my village had seen at least one world war, some both, and as a kid I talked to them. The wild eyed wonder in the article, a mixture of hope and fear, was around then and is around today. The things that people - young or old - say, seem equally prophetic or naive. Plus ca change, plus cest la meme chose. The things they saw coming had not yet happened, and much they feared inevitable never did.
- refset 3y agoVery true, although the digital-ness of computers isn't holding anything back at this point, now that storage is ~infinite and the virtues of immutability are widely recognised.
- cf141q5325 3y agoIts worth mentioning that analog computing is making a revival with its applications for neuronal networks. Veritasium has a great video about that.