I remember reading somewhere years ago about early analog computers and had to go look it up again to refresh my ageing memory. An inventor and mathematician by the name of Pascal designed and built a mechanical calculator all the way back in 1642.
Most people don't realise the world is inescapably analogue regardless of the digital construct we run across it. Your temperature increase in the original video outlines this, we literally corral/threshold the gliding analogue glide into a digital number value which exists only in our minds. I can see how analogue systems could execute the matrix multiplication, which underpins AI, far more quickly than digital. We already need to apply error correction across digital systems (it's only perfect in our minds) so this can be applied to analogue systems to increase accuracy. Maybe we're looking at a relaxing of digital puritanism rather than something 'new'.
Another area that people think about is car instruments (speedometers) were analog for ever then they are starting to go digital and I am not sure that is a good step.
Is the Player Piano or a music Box the first computerized Music player? The punch rolls have a lot in common with the punch cards computers used to use. Maybe not an iPod, just a way to replicate music.
Just because something is old, doesn't mean its analog! You keep saying abacus, but you clearly have never used one. They are as digital as your pocket calculator, same with the enigma machine and what cracked it, to the best of my knowledge. If it had discrete inputs and outputs, its digital. Punchcards especially are a digital input. There may be functions within a computer that use an analog input or output, (which is the best way to use them) but i think you are mistaking a lot of things for pure analog that are known to be digital. Also, you missed a great example of analog computing in your pocket. Have you any idea how your camera can stabilize an image so rapidly in such a small package? How about the gyroscopic and accelerometer sensors that use a digital reading of an analog circuit to determine changes in angle or force over time?
Agreed. Abacus is digital. Slide ruler is analog. Toes and fingers are digital. When we count toes and fingers each they are either extended or folded, on or off. We don't consider the amount they are folded. The length of each finger doesn't introduce errors into the calculation. Many people don't understand the difference.
Analog computer...in the bottom of the USS Missouri (20-ish feet above the keel) under the 16 inch guns. Received fire missions from forward spotters on Normandy beach via radio. Call to take out a truck/gun. One shot=no truck/gun.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Veritasium video.... I had seen one about analog computing and its possible uses in AI (title is "Future Computers Will Be Radically Different (Analog Computing)")
6:59 producing electricity via coal is still cleaner than burning fuel to drive an ICE vehicle. Especially once you factor in the production and supply chains for fuel.
It's hard to listen to someone who is so cringe with ignorance. I clicked this to learn about this analog computers that I don't have any real knowledge of but was immediately slapped in the face with someone calling mechanical computers analog. So I still don't know much about analog computers, but I do know an abacus is a digital computer and many of the other things he mentioned. I'm unsure of all since I myself am ignorant, but I know just enough to know the person talking doesn't know what they are talking about. Very hard to keep listening.
@REX4340 Are you kidding? An abacus is Digital because it's values are represented in whole number digits. Where as analog is not. You can actually just look up the definitions without asking here. It's going to says something like the signal is represented in whole number values and analog is a signal represented by a continuously variable quantity.
@@newsofthenerd An abacus is considered an analog computing device, not a digital computer. The key reasons why an abacus is classified as an analog computer are: 1. Representation of Numbers: - On an abacus, numbers are represented by the positions of the beads on the rods, which form a continuous, physical representation. - This is in contrast to digital computers, which represent numbers using discrete, binary digits (0s and 1s). 2. Performing Calculations: - With an abacus, calculations are performed by physically manipulating the beads on the rods, using the positions of the beads to represent the intermediate and final results. - This is an analog process, as the positions of the beads form a continuous, physical representation of the numbers being operated on. - Digital computers, on the other hand, perform calculations using discrete, digital logic operations on binary data. 3. Precision and Resolution: - The precision and resolution of an abacus are limited by the physical size and spacing of the beads on the rods. - Digital computers can represent numbers with much higher precision, as they use binary digits with a virtually unlimited number of bits. 4. Concept of Operations: - The abacus operates on the principle of analog computation, where the physical positions of the beads represent the values being manipulated. - Digital computers, in contrast, operate on the principle of digital logic, where information is processed and stored in the form of discrete, binary digits. While the abacus can be used to perform various mathematical operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, it is fundamentally an analog computing device, as it relies on the continuous, physical representation of numbers and the manipulation of those representations. In summary, the abacus is considered an analog computer, as it uses a continuous, physical representation of numbers and performs calculations through the manipulation of these physical representations, in contrast to the discrete, digital nature of modern computers.
I remember reading somewhere years ago about early analog computers and had to go look it up again to refresh my ageing memory.
An inventor and mathematician by the name of Pascal designed and built a mechanical calculator all the way back in 1642.
Most people don't realise the world is inescapably analogue regardless of the digital construct we run across it. Your temperature increase in the original video outlines this, we literally corral/threshold the gliding analogue glide into a digital number value which exists only in our minds.
I can see how analogue systems could execute the matrix multiplication, which underpins AI, far more quickly than digital. We already need to apply error correction across digital systems (it's only perfect in our minds) so this can be applied to analogue systems to increase accuracy. Maybe we're looking at a relaxing of digital puritanism rather than something 'new'.
Another area that people think about is car instruments (speedometers) were analog for ever then they are starting to go digital and I am not sure that is a good step.
2:23 please. please. somebody. tell. me. what. that. is. i absolutely need to kno if that existed. also how gd long have we had those??
12:40 I thought he was about to jump into the song from Even Stevens. We went to the moon....in 1969
Is the Player Piano or a music Box the first computerized Music player? The punch rolls have a lot in common with the punch cards computers used to use.
Maybe not an iPod, just a way to replicate music.
antikythera mechanism- see Iatest Indiana Jones
To your WW2 comments, the proximity detection for flack gun shells used analogue systems too.
Though the bomb sights were not really that accurate in real world scenarios.
@@jiecut Not sure how that relates but good to know. The flack shells were an issue because vacuum tubes and percussive shock weren't good friends.
Just because something is old, doesn't mean its analog! You keep saying abacus, but you clearly have never used one. They are as digital as your pocket calculator, same with the enigma machine and what cracked it, to the best of my knowledge. If it had discrete inputs and outputs, its digital. Punchcards especially are a digital input. There may be functions within a computer that use an analog input or output, (which is the best way to use them) but i think you are mistaking a lot of things for pure analog that are known to be digital.
Also, you missed a great example of analog computing in your pocket. Have you any idea how your camera can stabilize an image so rapidly in such a small package? How about the gyroscopic and accelerometer sensors that use a digital reading of an analog circuit to determine changes in angle or force over time?
Agreed. Abacus is digital. Slide ruler is analog. Toes and fingers are digital. When we count toes and fingers each they are either extended or folded, on or off. We don't consider the amount they are folded. The length of each finger doesn't introduce errors into the calculation. Many people don't understand the difference.
. .. i mean . i think issa fairly common exp to use an abacus w.out realizing that there's sumn digital ab it .
This made me think of a video by Technology Connections on pinball machines.
ruclips.net/video/ue-1JoJQaEg/видео.html
Analog computer...in the bottom of the USS Missouri (20-ish feet above the keel) under the 16 inch guns. Received fire missions from forward spotters on Normandy beach via radio. Call to take out a truck/gun. One shot=no truck/gun.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Veritasium video.... I had seen one about analog computing and its possible uses in AI
(title is "Future Computers Will Be Radically Different (Analog Computing)")
6:59 producing electricity via coal is still cleaner than burning fuel to drive an ICE vehicle. Especially once you factor in the production and supply chains for fuel.
It's hard to listen to someone who is so cringe with ignorance. I clicked this to learn about this analog computers that I don't have any real knowledge of but was immediately slapped in the face with someone calling mechanical computers analog. So I still don't know much about analog computers, but I do know an abacus is a digital computer and many of the other things he mentioned. I'm unsure of all since I myself am ignorant, but I know just enough to know the person talking doesn't know what they are talking about. Very hard to keep listening.
In what way is an abacus digital?
@REX4340 Are you kidding? An abacus is Digital because it's values are represented in whole number digits. Where as analog is not. You can actually just look up the definitions without asking here. It's going to says something like the signal is represented in whole number values and analog is a signal represented by a continuously variable quantity.
@@newsofthenerd An abacus is considered an analog computing device, not a digital computer.
The key reasons why an abacus is classified as an analog computer are:
1. Representation of Numbers:
- On an abacus, numbers are represented by the positions of the beads on the rods, which form a continuous, physical representation.
- This is in contrast to digital computers, which represent numbers using discrete, binary digits (0s and 1s).
2. Performing Calculations:
- With an abacus, calculations are performed by physically manipulating the beads on the rods, using the positions of the beads to represent the intermediate and final results.
- This is an analog process, as the positions of the beads form a continuous, physical representation of the numbers being operated on.
- Digital computers, on the other hand, perform calculations using discrete, digital logic operations on binary data.
3. Precision and Resolution:
- The precision and resolution of an abacus are limited by the physical size and spacing of the beads on the rods.
- Digital computers can represent numbers with much higher precision, as they use binary digits with a virtually unlimited number of bits.
4. Concept of Operations:
- The abacus operates on the principle of analog computation, where the physical positions of the beads represent the values being manipulated.
- Digital computers, in contrast, operate on the principle of digital logic, where information is processed and stored in the form of discrete, binary digits.
While the abacus can be used to perform various mathematical operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, it is fundamentally an analog computing device, as it relies on the continuous, physical representation of numbers and the manipulation of those representations.
In summary, the abacus is considered an analog computer, as it uses a continuous, physical representation of numbers and performs calculations through the manipulation of these physical representations, in contrast to the discrete, digital nature of modern computers.