Coach Sankhavaram ®

#AdaLovelace (paraphrased):

Watch Out for Two Big Mistakes
When people first hear about the Analytical Engine, they tend to make one of two mistakes. The first is getting too excited and thinking it can do more than it really can. The second is going too far the other way — once they realize it has limits, they decide it’s not that impressive after all. Both mistakes miss the truth.

(1/4)

May 11 at 2:22pmWeb
Show threadCoach Sankhavaram ®May 11

What the Engine Can and Can’t Do
The Analytical Engine cannot come up with new ideas on its own. It can only do what a person has already figured out how to tell it to do. It can follow instructions and carry out steps in a process — but it cannot discover anything new by itself. Its job is to help people use knowledge they already have, faster and more reliably than they could by hand.

(2/4)

Show threadCoach Sankhavaram ®May 11
A Side Effect Worth Noticing
There is, however, something interesting that happens along the way. To get the engine to work, people have to take their ideas and organize them into very precise, step-by-step instructions. Doing that forces them to think about those ideas more carefully than they might have otherwise. In that way, the engine doesn’t just carry out thinking — it quietly improves the thinking that goes into it. That’s a side effect, not the main point. (3/4)
Show threadCoach Sankhavaram ®May 11

But most powerful tools work that way. The big, obvious benefit gets the attention. The smaller, quieter changes often matter just as much.

https://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/sketch.html#NoteG (4/4)

Sketch of The Analytical Engine

Sketch of The Analytical Engine