Samenvatting - History of Science - Notes&Lectures (X_) voor Artificial Intelligence studie aan de VU, Informatie: History of science, artificial intelligence, computer science, tech, evolution of tech, prehistory of science, creating computers, sound of software, computing crisis, dream machines,...
Chapter 1 - book:
Computer - in WW2 and Victorian period - meant: an occupation -> someone that computes.
Electronic computer is combi of human computer and human clerc (someone who organizes
numbers and keeps stu together). Human computers rst used for production of mathematical
labels. Logarithmic tables sped up the calculations like trigonometric tables. Late 18th century,
there were specialized tables for:
-navigational tables for mariners
-star tables for astronomers
-life insurance tables for actuaries
-civil engineering for architects
In 1766 the British government sanctioned the astronomer royal, Nevil Maskelyne, to produce
each year a set of navigational tables known as Nautical Almanac. These provided reliable
navigation system and thus: great importance for economy. Calculations performed twice: by two
computers and checked by a third “comparator”.
Charles Babbage was engaged in problem of table making and elimination of errors in tables. He
learned about French-table making project of Gaspard de Prony (1819), and found it di cult and
error prone to make tables. Therefore, he invented: Di erence machine (1822) which had adding
mechanisms to do the calculations and the printing part, table making = “tables du cadastre”.
Unfortunately, Babbage underestimated the nancial and technical recourses he would need to
build his engine. Asking money for a machine called the Analytical Engine, it would do any
calculation, was the end of Babbage. He travels Europe in 1820s and learns about economics
and factories, wrote a book: Economy of Machinery and Manufacturers in 1832.
The victorian period was the great age of the physical and nancial infrastructure investment.
Important information structures of Victorian Period:
-Railway Clearing House: tables to check whether passenger had paid
-telegraph. Was invented to prevent that two trains were on the same track.
By the mid-1860s there were more over 75000 miles of telegraph lines in Britain.
In 1870 integrated separated systems to make it more e cient.
In 1874 a central hub: the central telegraph o ce was established, so that every city of
importance had a direct line.
The rst data-processing bureaucracy in the US was the Bureau of Census. It took about 7 years
to process the data that was collected on the grid. To solve this problem, Herman Hollerith
developed a machine for census data processing. Later known as the Tabulating Machine
Company and foundation of IBM. For the rst time, Female labor was used to make the punched
cards. Breaks with census in 1905. In 1911 transition to becoming o ce-machine company done,
but Hollerith’s health is failing.
At end of 19th century, America had the most advanced o ce equipment. Reasons for this were:
-America’s o ces started late; they could start fresh and didn’t have to renew the o ce
-America was open for gadgets and glamour at o ce, because they wanted to be modern
Chapter 2 - book:
Top 4 o ce machine suppliers:
-Remington Rand: supplier of typewriters & ling systems for information storage
-Burroughs: adding machines
-IBM: punched card accounting machines
-NCR: accounting machines
The introduction of female labor and the keyboard arrangement of letters are examples of how
past shapes present. Typewriter brought females into o ces. Typewriter did catch on when it was
faster than an ordinary person. Typewriter was the most complex mechanism mass produced by
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, US industry in the 19th century. Remington had monopoly on it, until the last decade of the 19th
century.
The typewriter led to o ce machine industry and the computer industry of nowadays:
-through the perfection of the product and a low-cost manufacturer
-a sales organization to sell the product
-a training organization to enable workers to use technology
The rst modern vertical ling system was introduced in the early 1890s and won a Gold Medal at
the 1893 World’s Fair. James Rand invented an index system with colored strips that was 4 times
faster than previous one. Also invented later the Kardex system: it combined advantages of the
index system with the potential for unlimited expansion and instant retrieval. Rand junior turned
the company into the largest business-machine company in the world (1925). 1927: fuses with
Remington Typewriter Company to “Remington Rand” -> largest business-machine company in
the world.
First commercial adding machine was the Arithmometer, handmade, developed by Thomas de
Colmar of Alsace - 1820. The arithmometer was too slow, and therefore only used by engineer
concerns. Other problem was that nancial organizations needed a written record of numbers of
the numbers. Dorr E. Felt and William S. Burroughs solved these problems with their machines:
the comptometer and the Burroughs Adding Machine. Only Burroughs succeeded.
Felt introduced the keys for the machine. The company was at this time successful but wasn’t
prepared for the computer industry and vanished. Burroughs machine could make the additions
but also print them. Major input for the development of adding machine industry was the
introduction of a new tax law that adapted progressive tax rates and the withholding tax from pay.
Burroughs survived by:
-not only supplying adding machines but also how to incorporate them in companies
-also they didn’t solely rely on 1 product
First cash register was invented by a Dayton restaurateur: James Ritty. His machine showed the
amount of the sale at the top of the machine and recorded all the sales on a paper inside the
machine. He sold only one machine to John H. Patterson who sold later more than 2000
machines a year under the name: National Cash Register Company. He established an invention
department which was later copied by other companies. After Patterson died NCR developed the
class 2000 accounting machine. NCR was important for the computer age because it shapes the
marketing of business machines and established the key practices of the industry.
Key points:
-introduced the sale quota
-literature of the NCR
-sales training
In comparison with the typewriter and adding machine, the punched card machine industry was
slowly developing. Hollerith tried to make it an o ce machine but failed because of his lack of
knowledge of business machines. The Consensus Bureau engaged with Powers, he had a
machine that printed results. Meanwhile, Hollerith perfected his machines so that they were
automatic and in 1911 had 100 customers. Hollerith had to sell his company due to his doctor’s
advice and nancial state. It was taken over by Charles R. Flint. He merged the Tabulating
Machine Company, Computing Scale Company and the International Time Recording Company
into Computer Tabulating Recoding: C-T-R. CTR later turned into IBM.
The success of IBM is due to:
-development of a sales organization based on NCR
-the rent and re ll nature of the punched machine business made IBM recession proof by:
-renting the punched card business and not selling
-punched card sales
-technical innovation
Watson became, after a career as top salesman for NCR, general manager of CTR. In 1924,
Watson renamed CTR to International Business Machines (IBM). The T-H-I-N-K motto he invented
at NCR was also found in every IBM o ce.
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, Power was acquired by Remington Rand and therefore became a threat to IBM. The 1930s IBM
had a signi cant technical lead over its competitors with 400 series. Watson became president of
the American Chamber of Commerce and later International Chamber of Commerce and he was a
friend/advisor of president Roosevelt. Due to Social Security Act it became necessary for the
federal government to maintain the employment records of the entire working population and later
the New Deal legislation created obligations for employers in the private sector to comply with
federal demands for information on which welfare, National Recovery Act codes, and public work
projects were dependent. This resulted in that IBM became the greatest supplier in the o ce
machine world.
Lecture 1:
Today we trust machines, but has not always been.
-Machines were there to amaze, not to function
Robot that played piano was not a robot but rather a human playing that robot and hiding
inside the machine
-First Calculating machines were presented to the rich and famous
Creating the idea that the world in indeed built like a machine as well
-Machines were not trusted
Calculating machines were not actually used
Frederic Taylor:
-Shop management
-Principles of scienti c management
How does organization of a company work very e ciently from input to output
Harry Ford:
-Production lines for his cars
When labor became more expensive:
Motivation for high e ciency
Taking care of the workers
-Henri Fayol:
French equivalent of Ford
Adapting to French bureaucracy
Trust in numbers
-Fayol and Ford both put trust in numbers
-Census and statistics were created to inform society about background information
US/UK: insurance companies got costumers through promises using angles
Leaving people the choice to pay: Obamacare, thought to be bad because people
were forced to pay it
Numbers were trusted, but checked by hand
Europe was more left wing
Everyone contributes, is forced to
More social system
3 traditions of thinking about automation: putting machines to work instead of manpower
-Existed already before WW2
Administration
New administrative work force
Using typewriters instead of handwritten copies
Adding machines etc
O ces were the most modern place on earth at that time
1911: exhibition of modern o ce machines in Amsterdam
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