The first computer
Computers have become worryingly omnipresent.
We carry our palm sized pets on every walk. We stare blankly at the free version of the collective unconscious in an attempt to numb our own thoughts. We are constantly accompanied by this tiny telegraph office, buzzing with things to worry about in the big bad world.
You might be forgiven for fantasising, as I do, about hurling that little box into the icy waters of a nearby lake, but wait! I cup my hands and shout from the other shore ‘I have some more useless information for you!’
You narrow your eyes and shake your head, as if to say you can’t take another byte.
But I persist and yell in the frosty morning air ‘THE FIRST COMPUTER WAS A LOOM.’
You perk up a little and pause, your arm stretched out behind you, the little black screen praying for mercy in your gloved hands.
‘A Jacquard loom was in fact the first programmed computer, when they replaced a small child perched at the top of the loom with a punch card. The punch card allowed the lo…
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