Babbage's Puzzle - Computerphile
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- Опубликовано: 6 дек 2016
- Professor Brailsford discusses Charles Babbage, the genius behind the Analytical Engine.
The Professor's notes: www.eprg.org/computerphile/new...
Complete 'Babbage & Lovelace' Playlist: • Babbage, Lovelace & th...
Sixty Symbols - Ada's Tomb: • Ada Lovelace's Tomb - ...
Undecidability Tangent: • Undecidability Tangent...
Analytical Engine Build Project: bit.ly/Computerphile_Plan28
Lovelace Symposium : bit.ly/Computerphile_LovelaceSymp
Stephen Wolfram's Blog on Ada Lovelace: bit.ly/Computerphile_Wolfram_Ada
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This video was filmed and edited by Sean Riley.
Computer Science at the University of Nottingham: bit.ly/nottscomputer
Computerphile is a sister project to Brady Haran's Numberphile. More at www.bradyharan.com
I love how you need the modern computers and analysis to understand the notations for the analytical engine, and it still takes decades to do.
He was truly the first troll of the computer age.
I think it's more likely that Babbage understood it and thought it was straightforward, therefore didn't think it would have needed explanation.
Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, and anyone who's ever done any debugging on uncommented code knows the problems with that mindset immediately.
"it's all solved in the next version!"
Babbage sounds like the software vendor I have to work with...
Also, you said that two versions ago
I must say Prof. Brailsford is probably my favorite contributor on Computerphile - or Numberphile, for that matter.
Each video with Professor Brailsford is my new favorite Computerphile video. Such fantastic descriptions, I would have loved to have had him as a teacher years ago. Thank you!
Babbage's most significant invention was probably the government funded research project that failed after dramatically overrunning the original budget.
I come back to watch this video quite often. I love hearing Professor Brailsford talk about Charles Babbage! Actually, I really like the professor speaking about any subject. Not only is he very knowledgeable, but he's a great storyteller too. I really wish I could meet him sometime, but I'm in the US and I don't know if or when I'll ever get the chance to :/
I've never had to use log tables.
But my dad said that when he went to college, during some final exam, the calculator he was to use broke down and he had to use a slide rule and a book of logs from the library.
I wish I could have listened to Professor Brailsford's lessons back in my college days
Seemingly no one could tell these stories better than brailsford.
Charles Babbage - the first troll lol
I highly doubt he was the first. Trolls have been around since the dawn of humanity XD
Professor Brailsford is such a great speaker!
My Great, great, great Uncle Charles 🥰
Charles Babbage, the Troller
Don't feed the Babbage !
Randy Gast
I like this better.
Such an interesting topic!
I heard that Babbage's notes had been fully scanned and archived digitally.
Do you know if there will be crowdsourcing around trying to decipher and understanding them?
I think Percy Ludgate's (1909) Analytical Engine deserves a video
I believe Babbage also discovered the formulas which Karatsuba used to create the fast multiplication algorithm as well.
If you didn't want to use a log table, how many digits of precision could you reliably get from a decent slide rule?
Depends which end and which scale. Three at the bottom end, at the top.
I don't know why my mind insists on making an analogy between Einstein and his two Relativities (Special and General) and Babbage with his two types of computation engines (Differential and Analytical).
Ohhh, not Log tables, but LOG tables! oh okay that makes more sense
12:41 "We're not gonna drive it by steam" ... Valve: ._. ...
Sorry, bad joke had to be made.
well it's the Third machine by Babbage, no wonder that Valve won't be involved!
Why would I want to convert two numbers into their logs, thereby losing accuracy twice, just to convert the sum back and lose accuracy again if I can just multiply them by hand? I bet that’s faster than looking up three numbers in this log book!
Charles was king of upselling.
Great video but I didn't quite get how Prof. Brailford can guarantee that the analytic engine is capable of universal computation if they haven't figured out Babbage's design yet. Or were they able to do that despite not completely understanding the details of the notation ?
There are several levels of design. You can tell that an ARM processor is a universal computer by looking at its block diagram and description in English of its operation. You don't have to understand the detailed transistor schematic for that. But you do need to understand that schematic if you want to build a perfect replica of it. Same thing with Babbage's design: you even have simulations of it on the web and can program it yourself, but an exact replica requires both understanding his notation and trying to reconcile the multiple versions he did over time.
Any updates on the analytical engine? Has it been built?
it would be awesome to have a video speculating on what would have been the impact of the analytical engine on science over history... suggestion
About the 3D printing, the precision is much lower than standard CNC machines (computer numerical controlled). Due to this, it will probably be impossible to print one of these mechanical computer at home by now.
Home 3d printers very likely are unable to, but commercial additive metal printers may be up to the task
Doubtful. Metal printers still have poor resolution ~ 100 um, at least without (you guessed it) post-process CNC surface finishing.
You could just print them bigger...
...understanding babbage's notation, sounds like an interesting challenge for a 'large language model'
The original proposal was for steam powered. If the Analytical Engine is a Turing computer then use railroad track as the tape and have the whole show rolling back and forth down and up the line. As your train's delayed you watch as the analytical engine takes priority and rolls on past, changing the state of regularly spaced markers as the damn thing seems to mock you as it trundles back and forth, slaving away at an indeterminate halting problem bringing more chaos to the line than Southern Rail.
A few passenger carriages attached with all the great thinkers discussing the big problems. All aboard the A.E. Express. "Tickets please", as Brailsford kicks me off, "you'll need a first class degree from Oxbridge to ride on this bad boy"
Ok, let's end with a joke. As Babbage was so thinned skinned what operating system would they A.E. use? Thindows.
I do not know all that much about 3d Printing but would the parts be rigid enough and not too brittle to make gears and rods and the other bits of the machines?
"This stops the Engine"
I like Hawking, he seems perfectly reasonable, lol, often saying controversial stuff as if, and most seem to say, purposely, daring people to prove him wrong, because proving him wrong is what science needs, lol.
He's an interesting case. Since it takes a lot of effort for him to write or speak he chooses his words very carefully, and I think that affects how he's perceived by others.
If we could get Colossus to decrypt Babbage's cryptic notation ... that would be epic
I thought DE2 was derived from the AE's ALU...
Yes, the time-line in the video isn't quite right. Babbage gave up on DE1 because of the much more interesting AE but when he finally saw that this was never getting funded he used his AE experience to redo the DE with a fraction of the parts of the original and offered that to the government. When even that was rejected he just archived everything and it was this third design that has been built in the past few decades.
Could you make a video on the possibilities and shortfalls of non-binary computation, in theory and practise? Pretty please :)
(I don't mean quantum computing, asking for videos on it feels redundant)
ruclips.net/video/thrx3SBEpL8/видео.html
Thank you!
Just imagine if the Analytical Engine crashed.
Basically a train crash without passengers.
Why would a mechanical computer be a problem; what makes him say that at the videos beginning?
When i was younger, i always wondered why they never built it, then i saw the schematics.... ( A crude one at that)
azmanabdula yeah right 😂 totally believing you
Brainstorm4300 Not the actual schematics....
that would be worth.... well...
More than we are worth..
Remember, im talking about when i was around 12...
These machines were (still are) interesting...
I've always wondered why they didn't build it. This is the first time I've seen Babbage's schematics, and now I understand.
Steve Lovelace Imagine the heat from all the gears...
Prelude to the greatest machine that never was?
What if the analytical engine becomes the first sentient A.I. and we just didn't know cuz nobody built it
0:37 -- "Only problem is: it's totally mechanical" I don't see this as a problem I see it as a work or art.
You forgot to talk about Lovelace. :-P
You dont need a computer controlled machine tool to make the parts. You just need a skilled machinist. You need a computer controlled machine tool to make 100's of the parts cheaply. The Merlin engine of wwii fame is my proof. Id love to see them release the cnc files open source online. That way many museums could make their own.
I wonder how much impact Charles Babbage had on the development of computers. Was this all lost to history? Or did it go on to inspire or influence other people who, later, really did contribute to computer science?
If anime has taught me anything, Charles Babbage is actually just a giant robot.
I really love his accent. Is it british?
I am so excited for the Ada Lovelace episodes! She was completely glossed over in my math and CS courses in favor of talking about men like Babbage and Turing.
Oh yeah, but there was loads of rambling about the men in CS. Not saying sexism is the only reason for the selection, but I want to avoid passing on the bias.
The lack of women in computer science who've made important contributions is saddening. We've got Grace Hopper, Lynn Conway, arguably Ada Lovelace, but I can't think of any others off the top of my head. Limor "Ladyada" Fried is pretty frigging awesome with what she's doing with Adafruit. It's... sad and frusturating. Hey though! Maybe one day people will look back on me or one of my women peers as a great computer scientist who was also female, who knows? :)
Surely there were precision machining tools back then that could have made the parts. A CNC mill is no more or less accurate than a human operated mill.
Apparently not. As I understand it, the gears were cut by hand; each one being a work of art in its own right. But I did read that for DE2 Babbage used part of the extra money that he was given for this new version to collaborate with his gearwheel specialist in trying to design a precision lathe to speed up production. Logically the right thing to do but, of course, the start-up costs of doing things that way meant he ran out of money even more quickly......
I suppose I have too much faith in the tolerances common machining tools were able to achieve back then. I appreciate you taking the time to reply to me, thank you. I look forward to the next video you are featured in!
LEGO RULES!
What about a analytical-engine-controlled milling machine to make analytical engine parts?
Don't get me started on analytic-ception.
That said, machining doesn't sound like that big of a problem to solve mechanically with a series of gears and cams. Not sure why the gear cutters of Babbage's time didn't think of that. Or maybe they did and it was still terribly expensive even with automation.
2
Wow new camera? or my internet connection suddenly got faster lol
1
Borrows Cabbage?
5.47 ;? Your Grand-Dad ;?
3D printing whatever it's already been done in LEGOs
Pocari Suit The irony is that most 3d printers aren't precise enough to print lego.
Lego has some scarily precise tolerances to work reliably...
Anyone else getting a weird soap opera effect in this one?
Elaborate.
Anything above 24/25/30 frames per second gives the soap opera look until the viewer adjusts.
48fps is enough for American and European alike to experience the effect.
I don't see what you guys are talking about. What do frame rates have to do with soaps
The "Soap Opera Effect" is when the motion in the video looks "too smooth". There's a sub-article on wikipedia about it: /wiki/Motion_interpolation#Soap_opera_effect
(I get flagged for spam sometimes, so I just pasted the end of the URL)
+Falcrist. interesting! thanks mate!
making a computer that makes more of itself? ... that ought to end well ;)
why dont such genii write things so that people might be able to understand it right away? xD
Subbestionix Back then most inventors were afraid of duplicitous people stealing their ideas and works. So they often penned their ideas/works in an abstruse manner in order to befuddle the fiend who stole their ideas/works.
greed and power
Aw, if this ever gets built it would lose some of its charm by not being driven by steam.
Thin-skinned, prone to grandiose ideation… Was Babbage possibly narcissistic?
Desmaad Narcisist are obsessed with their physical appearance. Babbage was a troll and douche. So no. A smart man, but still a douche.
Well, such a brilliant mind kind of deserves to be.
Get some linguists to work on the Babbage Notation.
Babbage Analytical Engine designs and funny notation?
More like Voynich manuscripts.
Still hiding from his backers.