Charles Babbage a mathematician,philosopher,inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of computer programming. Babbage is remembered for his inventions –the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine like computing machines. He located intelligence in the mind and not the attentive crafting body of a labourer.In those days, the word computer referred to a human being.a
In this case the employee to perform the exhausting reckoning in which every astronomical operation required. Numerical tables were calculated by humans who were called computers meaning one who computes.Babbage himself applied for the post of computer.This required intensive labour work (body work) which doesn't require use of brain.The intelligent people (one with the mind) does only intellectual work where as the labour has to do the tedious calculations.This prompted him to develop the difference engine.
Babbage borrowed many of his ideas from the French weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard. Jacquard came from a family of silk weavers.Weaving then was long,tedious,repetitive process with little automation.To create a pattern a draw boy had to sit inside the loom and move threads according to the directions of the weaver.The one with the mind is instructing to the one doing physical work.This shows intelligence is in mind not in the body. So Jacquard thought of creating a system that would be controlled by a set of cards that would mechanically produce any patterns.Skill was recognised as something inherent in the persons of the workers themselves. So the issue of science and intelligence embodied in the automatic system and the fate of the worker's body was constantly debated. Soon after the attempt at making the difference engine crumbled, Babbage started designing a different, more complex machine called the Analytical Engine. The main difference between the two engines is that the Analytical Engine could be programmed using punched cards. The added advantage with these cards were that they enabled the computer to not only perform tasks but also have a memory which mimicked the action of the brain. He explained his view of the property of skill involved in the calculating engines. The idea of using punch cards to instruct and control a system became the basis of computer programming.
He lectured several times a week to around three hundred workers on chemistry and mechanics and viewed these lectures as a means to improve the morals of the labouring population. Although Babbage did not teach at any of the institutions for the education of the working population, he did donate the third edition of the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures to the Mechanics Institutes.
Jacuard could replace physical work with a mechanism. Babbage calls as "triumph of mind over matter".This is replacement for the body.But it cant create a pattern.It requires a mind or one with mind for that.This shows intelligence is in mind .A body can be replaced by a machine .intelligence can be automated only upto a certain limit, the boss will be always mind .
References
1)article by Zimmerman on Babbage
2) article by schaffer
3)Bedini, Silvio A. "The Role of Automata in the History of Technology."
4)The Machinery Question and the Making of Political Economy London:
Cambridge
praveen kumar
na09b019
In this case the employee to perform the exhausting reckoning in which every astronomical operation required. Numerical tables were calculated by humans who were called computers meaning one who computes.Babbage himself applied for the post of computer.This required intensive labour work (body work) which doesn't require use of brain.The intelligent people (one with the mind) does only intellectual work where as the labour has to do the tedious calculations.This prompted him to develop the difference engine.Babbage borrowed many of his ideas from the French weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard. Jacquard came from a family of silk weavers.Weaving then was long,tedious,repetitive process with little automation.To create a pattern a draw boy had to sit inside the loom and move threads according to the directions of the weaver.The one with the mind is instructing to the one doing physical work.This shows intelligence is in mind not in the body. So Jacquard thought of creating a system that would be controlled by a set of cards that would mechanically produce any patterns.Skill was recognised as something inherent in the persons of the workers themselves. So the issue of science and intelligence embodied in the automatic system and the fate of the worker's body was constantly debated. Soon after the attempt at making the difference engine crumbled, Babbage started designing a different, more complex machine called the Analytical Engine. The main difference between the two engines is that the Analytical Engine could be programmed using punched cards. The added advantage with these cards were that they enabled the computer to not only perform tasks but also have a memory which mimicked the action of the brain. He explained his view of the property of skill involved in the calculating engines. The idea of using punch cards to instruct and control a system became the basis of computer programming.
He lectured several times a week to around three hundred workers on chemistry and mechanics and viewed these lectures as a means to improve the morals of the labouring population. Although Babbage did not teach at any of the institutions for the education of the working population, he did donate the third edition of the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures to the Mechanics Institutes.
As Babbage among the political economists showed ,the disaggregation of the production process into a simplest components allowed a series of economics and parts of surveillance.The master manufacturer by dividing the work to be executed into different processes , each requiring different degrees of skills.So one does the surveillance and other does the physical work.This is control of work force by masters. If workers cooperate with factory owners, they will soon be in the position to let their "intelligent principle" contemplate their immortal- their transcendent, not their historical-interests, although this spiritual freedom. view this type of technical pedagogy as a mode of power knowledge that transforms the worker's body into both a productive body and a subjugated body. Certainly this was one of the more or less unspoken intentions of the movements to educate workers.
Jacuard could replace physical work with a mechanism. Babbage calls as "triumph of mind over matter".This is replacement for the body.But it cant create a pattern.It requires a mind or one with mind for that.This shows intelligence is in mind .A body can be replaced by a machine .intelligence can be automated only upto a certain limit, the boss will be always mind .
References
1)article by Zimmerman on Babbage
2) article by schaffer
3)Bedini, Silvio A. "The Role of Automata in the History of Technology."
4)The Machinery Question and the Making of Political Economy London:
Cambridge
praveen kumar
na09b019
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