X-Message-Number: 32964 Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 09:50:36 -0700 Subject: Charles Babbage analogy From: MARK PLUS <> In Cryonet #32949, Gerald Monroe writes: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/dsp.cgi?msg=32951 >How many years typically passed between when writers and scientists of the past accurately described a technology and when it was first prototyped? For instance, Babbage's analytical engine was described in 1837 (refined until his death in 1871) and the first mechanical computer that was comparable was the German Z1, completed 1938. 101 years. One, Babbage's machine would probably work because its design doesn't make physically dubious assumptions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_engine Two, Babbage's ideas didn't lead to a cult movement in the 19th Century which wasted decades of other people's lives speculating about the miracles his invention would bring about. Instead the technically inclined people in the 19th Century directed their efforts towards more immediately practical things like railroads, applied chemistry and telegraphy. (I wonder how many "nanotechnologists" also consider themselves economically sophisticated, yet don't see their own diseconomic behavior?) Three, what about comparing nanotechnology to more apposite cases where the original conceptions led to new technologies quickly? -- Mark Plus Life is short: Freeze hard! Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32964