#babbage

@randomcha @scalzi

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.
Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864), ch. 5 "#DifferenceEngine No. 1"

#CharlesBabbage #Babbage

One great thing about getting older, is that stupid and unlikely things seem to keep coming true!

For example:

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."

...and I think with AI, we've reached a similar level of confusion.

#babbage #AI #differenceengine

Modern Computing’s Roots or The Manchester Baby - In the heart of Manchester, UK, a groundbreaking event took place in 1948: the fir... - https://hackaday.com/2025/03/19/modern-computings-roots-or-the-manchester-baby/ #manchesterbaby #computerhacks #manchester #vonneumann #history #babbage #eniac

Je me joins à #BABBAGE et à ses potes pour vous souhaiter une belle année 2025 !
@raspberrypi Pi @arduino #Kubii #partage #nouvellestechnologies #maker #geek

- "Alors #Babbage tout est prêt pour cette Maker Faire Lille sur le stand 202 ?"
-"Diable oui ! on peut charger la voiture. Réveil demain à l'aube, la route est longue depuis la Bourgogne !"
- "Pas de souci Babbage, commence de charger la voiture, je vais me faire un café..."

*I'll probably die before amybody figures this out, but that's nowhere near so painful as trying and failing to do it #AnalyticalEngine #steampunk #Babbage #Turin #AdaLovelace

https://medium.com/@bruces/the-mysterious-visit-of-mr-babbage-by-bruce-sterling-2017-7c941028c4d8

@mina @si_irini @2ndStar @SilviaMarton

What is #ArtificialGeneralIntelligence? #AGI
(3/n)

...chess and go players. And as we’ve discussed before on #Babbage, they’re tackling some of the biggest challenges in science, like predicting the three dimensional structures of proteins. One of the company’s goals from the outset, though, has been to build a system that would achieve AGI. And recently they’ve been trying to formalise what that actually means. The...

@bruces
I'm reminded of Sydney Padua's adventures of Lovelace and Babbage.
https://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/lovelace-and-babbage-vs-the-organist-pt-1/

Newcomers might be better going to the start for context.
https://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/comics/
#AdaLovelace #Babbage

Et n'oubliez pas, framboise314 est membre de l'Asso Caliban ! Vous pourrez voir #Babbage sur le stand avec son superbe #badge clignotant On vous attend du 5 au 7 juillet aux Machines de l'Île à Nantes avec Makemefamily pour #NMC24 Nantes Maker Campus

Once upon a time a long time ago Charles #Babbage allegedly said:

"On two occasions I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' …I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."

That is sublime, imo. But Babbage never actually build his #computer, correct? Not very familiar with that #history. #tech #technology #science #math #mathematics

Raúl Rojas reconstructed the (probably) first computer program - from Charles #Babbage in 1837:

https://cacm.acm.org/research/the-first-computer-program/

#ComputerHistory

I was interviewed by The Economist's Babbage podcast on their series, "The science that built AI" last month. My hour long conversation was edited to about six minutes!

I am glad they edited/fit my conversation as taking the perspective that this big data, big compute driven deep-net approach is orthogonal to human/biological vision. And that, without incorporating biological principles (in this case, vision), autonomous visual navigation systems (i.e., self-driving cars) are unlikely and/or limited.

Unfortunately, the podcast requires a subscription to The Economist (I too had to access it from my university account!). But if you do have access, let me know what you think!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4adN2gVRkQctA55Q0xswiO

#Neuroscience #History #AI #Deepnets #BiologicalIntelligence #BiologicalVision #HumanVision #MachineVision #TheEconomist #Babbage #MachineLearning

@verge oh and stuff should be built for real. None of that computer graphics nonsense for the #Babbage machines.

Browsing the newly published details of Charles Darwin's library more. Impressed to see novels in there - that's relatively unusual for a private library of this era. Many Dickens, many Gaskell. He also had works by Babbage, Mary Somerville and my g..uncle-in-law Charles Maclaren. http://darwin-online.org.uk/Complete_Library_of_Charles_Darwin.html #HistoryOfScience #BookHistory #Books #Bookstodon #Libraries #Reading #Darwin #CharlesDarwin #Science #Novels #Babbage #Dickens #CharlesBabbage #CharlesDickens #ElizabethGaskell #Gaskell

#Babbage se joint à moi pour vous souhaiter un joyeux Noël !
On va ralentir les publications pour cause de trève des ...fiseurs
Qui sont finalement pas si cons puisque c’est là qu’ils font le max de chiffre ..

A beary nice robot. #robotics #stem #babbage

This is a brilliant essay by @Mer__edith … You should definitely read it if you are interested in the history of computing vis-a-vis racism and labor! https://logicmag.io/supa-dupa-skies/origin-stories-plantations-computers-and-industrial-control/ #race #plantation #computing #babbage #slavery #capitalism

CBI Image o' Day. 1947. Howard Aiken, the original conceptual designer behind IBM's Harvard Mark I & Richard H Babbage, great-grandson of Charles Babbage, viewing pt of Charles Babbage's differential engine at a 1947 symposium at #Harvard.

#babbage #computer #compsci #computerscience #technology #tech #science #computerhistory #sts #tech #History @histodons

CBI Image of the Day.

A portion of the Analytical Engine of the incomplete mechanical computer at time of inventor Charles Babbage's passing in October 1871.

Held at Science Museum of London (its photo--CC). Contained a store for numbers (or memory) and a mill (which corresponds to what we think of as the CPU). It was 15 ft tall & weighed what a small locomotive does.

#charlesbabbage #babbage @histodons #computer #history #science #engineering #artifacts #tech #technology #museums #sts

This week, the latest #Babbage #podcast on #biometric security was published.

I helped a tiny bit with its development whilst I was #ABSW Media Fellow at The Economist!

Thanks to Producer Jason Hosken for completing this story & pushing for its publication!

https://economist.com/biometrics-pod