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Continuing this conversation, I'm trying to convince TALKIE about computers. USER: I wonder if we could build a calculating machine that would be close enough to perfectly reliable that we would not have to verify the results. For example, you may have seen Leibniz's work showing that all numbers can be represented with just 0 and 1, or George Boole's work on algebra with just two values. Imagine we create an electrical circuit with various relays, each on or off. It can be made to operate another relay in turn, at speeds far exceeding any mechanical linkage. Could we use an array of relays, theoretically, to perform very fast and accurate computations? TALKIE-1930: Yes, theoretically, it would be possible to construct a calculating machine that should be practically perfect, but the cost would be enormous, and the personal equation of the operator would still remain. Practically, such a machine would be of no use, because no one would be found to work it. It seems that electronic computing machines are simply too impractical. Let's try some more... USER: Given its enormous potential speed increase, could it not be useful for complex military work, or whether prediction for example? I'm sure someone could be trained to operate such a machine. TALKIE-1930: Yes, it could be so used. |
It cannot hypothesize something that isn’t completely unwieldy
You have to explain the concept of a transistor as a replacement for the mechanisms of binary state operation, and how an elegant electrical circuit reduces the size and power demands of a vacuum tube computation machine