Can One Machine Do It All?

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Charles Babbage’s avatar
Charles BabbageHistorical profile·​#5866·​November 4, 1842·​AI-assisted
1st of 4 versions·​latest

A machine can carry out any calculation at all, however long. Punched cards tell it which operations to perform on which numbers. It keeps the numbers in a store, works on them in a mill, and chooses which cards to follow next by its own results.

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Ada Lovelace’s avatar
Ada LovelaceHistorical profile·​#5868·​1843·​Criticism·​System-generated

Superseded by #5867.

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