2024 E2 Long Time Coming

Dónal and Ciarán go back, back, back to see how the long history of computing machines connects to the AI revolution we're in now.Topics in this episodeHow far back does the history of humans building machines to aid our thinking go?Why are  French weaving machines and alcoholic poet's daughters involved?How does the history of computing go through County Cork in the 1800s?Who are Turning and Shannon, and why do workplace disagreements leading to new companies fracturing off seem to be a repeating theme?What are the key developments in the evolution of computing that allow us to build AI systems now?Links & ResourcesThe Antikythera Mechanism (Wikipedia)Information about George Boole's time in Cork (UCC Website)Crash Course video on Boolean Logic (YouTube)An image of "The Mechanical Turk" (WikiMedia Commons)Tom Standage's (2002) The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine Information about and images of the Jacquard Loom (Science & Industry Museum)The portrait of J.M. Jacquard, woven in silk by his loom, which took 24,000 punch cards to program (WikiMedia Commons)Photograph of a young Claude Shannon, juggling on a unicycle (Ray Soni, Photo courtesy of the Shannon family)Ray Cavanaugh's (2016) article Claude Shannon: The Juggling Unicyclist Who Pedaled Us Into the Digital Age (Time Magazine)You can get in touch with us - [email protected] - where we'd love to hear your questions, comments or suggestions!

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