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Centuries Collide

Cody Crouch: Charles Babbage - The True Father Of Modern Computing | Centuries Collide

January 30, 2025 | S1:E7

Cody Crouch: Charles Babbage - The True Father Of Modern Computing | Centuries Collide
From failed minister to accidentally inventing the computer - Charles Babbage’s brilliant mind was way ahead of its time. Before electricity Babbage invented a fully functional mechanical calculator that became the foundation of the modern-day computer earning him the title of ‘Father of modern computing’.
#Visions/Dreams #AmericanHistory #WorldHistory #History #Government #Science #Technology #Future #inActive #CodyCrouch #Money #Documentary #ChristianScience

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Centuries Collide | Cody Crouch: Charles Babbage - The True Father Of Modern Computing | Centuries Collide | January 30, 2025
  • (music playing)
  • 00:01:29.923 --> 00:00:01.391
  • - i'm cody crouch.
  • 00:00:01.391 --> 00:00:02.725
  • I'm traveling the globe, uncovering the origins of the
  • 00:00:02.725 --> 00:00:05.361
  • Stuff that we use every day.
  • 00:00:05.361 --> 00:00:07.230
  • On centuries collide, we're recreating some of history's
  • 00:00:07.230 --> 00:00:09.699
  • Greatest moments exactly how they happened.
  • 00:00:09.699 --> 00:00:12.102
  • Well, almost exactly.
  • 00:00:12.102 --> 00:00:14.270
  • - the gutenberg press.
  • 00:00:14.270 --> 00:00:19.042
  • - oh.
  • 00:00:19.342 --> 00:00:21.177
  • - this is history like you've never seen it before.
  • 00:00:21.177 --> 00:00:24.147
  • (music playing)
  • 00:00:24.147 --> 00:00:29.752
  • Can you imagine a world without computers?
  • 00:00:29.752 --> 00:00:33.189
  • I can't.
  • 00:00:33.490 --> 00:00:34.224
  • We use them for everything.
  • 00:00:34.224 --> 00:00:36.192
  • Work, school, entertainment, travel,
  • 00:00:36.192 --> 00:00:39.596
  • Keeping up with old friends, and like a ton of shopping pain.
  • 00:00:39.596 --> 00:00:43.266
  • Not to mention, more importantly,
  • 00:00:43.266 --> 00:00:45.001
  • They run all the world's most complex systems — from
  • 00:00:45.001 --> 00:00:47.537
  • Governments to sciences to, like, the global economy.
  • 00:00:47.537 --> 00:00:51.441
  • Trust me, i take the rest of this episode just explaining all
  • 00:00:51.441 --> 00:00:54.511
  • The ways the world would look different if computers didn't
  • 00:00:54.511 --> 00:00:58.114
  • Exist, which would mean there'd be no internet.
  • 00:00:58.114 --> 00:01:03.286
  • (music playing)
  • 00:01:03.753 --> 00:01:07.023
  • Nothing has changed the course of our modern times more than
  • 00:01:07.023 --> 00:01:10.160
  • The computer.
  • 00:01:10.160 --> 00:01:11.327
  • It's arguably the greatest invention in the last few
  • 00:01:11.327 --> 00:01:12.996
  • Centuries.
  • 00:01:12.996 --> 00:01:13.963
  • But who do we have to thank for that?
  • 00:01:13.963 --> 00:01:15.632
  • Is it bill gates, alan turing, konrad zuse, steve jobs?
  • 00:01:15.632 --> 00:01:20.336
  • No fit steve.
  • 00:01:20.336 --> 00:01:21.738
  • The iphone is awesome.
  • 00:01:21.738 --> 00:01:23.640
  • But the truth is, we have the father of modern computing,
  • 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:26.576
  • Charles babbage, to thank.
  • 00:01:26.576 --> 00:01:28.912
  • You ever heard of him?
  • 00:01:28.912 --> 00:01:30.547
  • Well, to be honest, i hadn't.
  • 00:01:30.547 --> 00:01:32.882
  • If you know a little bit about the history of computers,
  • 00:01:34.050 --> 00:01:36.119
  • You know that they were created sometime in the '30s, right?
  • 00:01:36.119 --> 00:01:40.156
  • But you'd probably be thinking of the wrong century,
  • 00:01:40.256 --> 00:01:42.792
  • Not the 1930s, but rather the 1830s.
  • 00:01:42.792 --> 00:01:46.763
  • Yeah.
  • 00:01:46.763 --> 00:01:48.131
  • Back in the day of top hats and steam engines where you could
  • 00:01:48.131 --> 00:01:50.934
  • Die of a fever, and if you're lucky,
  • 00:01:50.934 --> 00:01:52.769
  • Travel from new york to london in a quick like two weeks.
  • 00:01:52.769 --> 00:01:56.206
  • And that's where we are today.
  • 00:01:56.206 --> 00:01:58.174
  • Because in order to discover one of history's greatest minds,
  • 00:01:58.174 --> 00:02:01.044
  • We have to explore his hometown right here in london, england.
  • 00:02:01.044 --> 00:02:04.814
  • Come on, let's go.
  • 00:02:04.814 --> 00:02:05.715
  • (music playing)
  • 00:02:05.715 --> 00:02:10.153
  • Babbage grew up right here in london in the late 1700s,
  • 00:02:10.153 --> 00:02:13.356
  • The son of a wealthy banker and his wife.
  • 00:02:13.356 --> 00:02:15.625
  • Around the age of eight, his life was seriously threatened by
  • 00:02:15.625 --> 00:02:19.195
  • Common fever, and it nearly took him out.
  • 00:02:19.195 --> 00:02:22.098
  • And if it had, we'd probably kiss our cell phones, pcs,
  • 00:02:22.098 --> 00:02:25.068
  • Basically everything running our modern lives goodbye.
  • 00:02:25.068 --> 00:02:28.504
  • Thankfully, babbage made a full recovery.
  • 00:02:28.605 --> 00:02:31.140
  • He continued his education at homewood academy, middlesex,
  • 00:02:31.140 --> 00:02:33.810
  • Where he became completely enamored with the library.
  • 00:02:33.810 --> 00:02:37.280
  • Like, almost as much as i love star wars, which is, like,
  • 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:41.050
  • A lot.
  • 00:02:41.050 --> 00:02:42.385
  • Anyway, it was there at the library that he became obsessed
  • 00:02:42.385 --> 00:02:44.787
  • With mathematics.
  • 00:02:44.787 --> 00:02:48.224
  • - 90, 95, 100.
  • 00:02:48.658 --> 00:02:54.697
  • - during that time, he also visited merlin's magical museum.
  • 00:02:55.932 --> 00:02:59.002
  • - it's mechanical museum.
  • 00:02:59.002 --> 00:03:00.436
  • - oh it's mechanical museum?
  • 00:03:00.436 --> 00:03:02.171
  • - yep.
  • 00:03:02.171 --> 00:03:02.839
  • - so not like the wizard?
  • 00:03:02.839 --> 00:03:04.607
  • Well, to be fair, at the time, this might as well have been
  • 00:03:05.842 --> 00:03:09.245
  • Magic.
  • 00:03:09.245 --> 00:03:10.480
  • At the museum, there were curious inventions and robots
  • 00:03:10.480 --> 00:03:12.515
  • That moved and scurried across the floor.
  • 00:03:12.515 --> 00:03:14.484
  • Now, this was way before wall-e or terminator,
  • 00:03:14.484 --> 00:03:17.787
  • So this was something that no one had seen before,
  • 00:03:17.787 --> 00:03:20.189
  • And it blew little babbage's mind.
  • 00:03:20.189 --> 00:03:24.427
  • It was the first time that he was introduced to the
  • 00:03:24.527 --> 00:03:26.729
  • Possibilities of what a machine could do.
  • 00:03:26.729 --> 00:03:29.132
  • He saw a world where machines wouldn't just live outdoors,
  • 00:03:29.132 --> 00:03:32.702
  • Powering, like, ships and trains,
  • 00:03:32.702 --> 00:03:34.304
  • But where they could come inside and assist man in common
  • 00:03:34.304 --> 00:03:37.674
  • Everyday tasks.
  • 00:03:37.674 --> 00:03:38.808
  • Kind of like a c-3po or r2-d2.
  • 00:03:38.808 --> 00:03:42.578
  • It opened his eyes to the future,
  • 00:03:42.578 --> 00:03:44.314
  • Thus setting babbage on his path toward changing modern history.
  • 00:03:44.314 --> 00:03:48.851
  • At the age of 20, babbage came right here to the trinity
  • 00:03:50.019 --> 00:03:53.056
  • College in cambridge, where his love of math sent him to the top
  • 00:03:53.056 --> 00:03:55.925
  • Of his class and became good friends with the outstanding
  • 00:03:55.925 --> 00:03:59.095
  • Astronomer, john herschel, who, like babbage,
  • 00:03:59.095 --> 00:04:01.531
  • Was a devout christian.
  • 00:04:01.531 --> 00:04:02.699
  • Babbage's friends were in a class of their own.
  • 00:04:02.699 --> 00:04:05.868
  • John herschel would eventually go on to astronomical fame,
  • 00:04:05.868 --> 00:04:08.838
  • Cataloging the southern hemisphere's night sky,
  • 00:04:08.838 --> 00:04:11.507
  • Naming seven of saturn's moons, and even coining that little
  • 00:04:11.507 --> 00:04:15.411
  • Term you may have heard of, photography.
  • 00:04:15.411 --> 00:04:18.147
  • Babbage spent his spare time poring over any mathematical
  • 00:04:19.349 --> 00:04:22.251
  • Books he could get his hands on.
  • 00:04:22.251 --> 00:04:23.453
  • He even studied writings from france and germany,
  • 00:04:23.453 --> 00:04:25.988
  • Which was a serious no, no.
  • 00:04:25.988 --> 00:04:28.024
  • Unfortunately, studying math from other countries,
  • 00:04:28.024 --> 00:04:31.227
  • Especially rival countries, was considered unpatriotic.
  • 00:04:31.227 --> 00:04:36.032
  • When babbage tried to discuss mathematics with his lecturers,
  • 00:04:36.132 --> 00:04:38.935
  • He was shocked that they were blatantly ignoring the latest
  • 00:04:38.935 --> 00:04:42.405
  • Developments in math throughout europe.
  • 00:04:42.405 --> 00:04:44.073
  • - the french and the germans agree,
  • 00:04:44.073 --> 00:04:46.642
  • Every non-constant single variable polynomial with a
  • 00:04:46.642 --> 00:04:51.948
  • Complex coefficient has at least one complex root.
  • 00:04:51.948 --> 00:04:56.719
  • This is a fundamental theory of algebra.
  • 00:04:56.719 --> 00:05:00.356
  • - and where did you learn this theorem?
  • 00:05:00.356 --> 00:05:03.693
  • - the french and the germans, of course.
  • 00:05:03.693 --> 00:05:06.396
  • Come on, boys, keep up.
  • 00:05:06.996 --> 00:05:08.731
  • - you're studying french and german?
  • 00:05:08.731 --> 00:05:11.401
  • - oui, oui.
  • 00:05:11.401 --> 00:05:14.036
  • - babbage had to take his study into his own hands.
  • 00:05:15.171 --> 00:05:17.473
  • So i guess in the same way us millennials will watch youtube
  • 00:05:17.473 --> 00:05:20.810
  • Videos on how to play guitar and load the dishwasher,
  • 00:05:20.810 --> 00:05:23.980
  • Babbage drove headfirst into calculus, trigonometry,
  • 00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:28.684
  • Pythagorean theorem, and a whole bunch of other gibberish math
  • 00:05:28.684 --> 00:05:32.021
  • Words.
  • 00:05:32.021 --> 00:05:33.489
  • Interestingly, the deeper babbage got into math and the
  • 00:05:33.589 --> 00:05:36.159
  • Natural wonders of the universe, the more he was convinced that
  • 00:05:36.159 --> 00:05:39.095
  • There was a higher power with higher governing laws.
  • 00:05:39.095 --> 00:05:41.864
  • Something, or perhaps someone setting in motion the laws like
  • 00:05:41.864 --> 00:05:47.270
  • Universe.
  • 00:05:47.270 --> 00:05:48.337
  • Being the curious scientist he was,
  • 00:05:48.337 --> 00:05:50.606
  • He even created a club here at cambridge called the ghost club.
  • 00:05:50.606 --> 00:05:54.744
  • And it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like.
  • 00:05:54.844 --> 00:05:57.413
  • It was basically the 1800s version of ghostbusters.
  • 00:05:57.413 --> 00:06:00.750
  • It's actually still a thing.
  • 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:02.685
  • Members today study paranormal phenomena, expose the fake,
  • 00:06:02.685 --> 00:06:06.489
  • And investigate the unexplainable.
  • 00:06:06.489 --> 00:06:09.058
  • Oh.
  • 00:06:09.058 --> 00:06:10.927
  • Babbage believed no matter how much we thought we knew,
  • 00:06:10.927 --> 00:06:13.963
  • There was no way we could know all the answers about the
  • 00:06:13.963 --> 00:06:16.599
  • Universe and especially about the supernatural.
  • 00:06:16.599 --> 00:06:18.968
  • - we must not measure the credibility or incredibility of
  • 00:06:18.968 --> 00:06:22.472
  • An event through the narrow sphere of our own experience,
  • 00:06:22.472 --> 00:06:26.042
  • Nor forget that there is a divine energy which overrides
  • 00:06:26.042 --> 00:06:31.514
  • What we familiarly call the laws of nature.
  • 00:06:31.514 --> 00:06:35.918
  • - basically, what he was saying is there's things we can't
  • 00:06:35.918 --> 00:06:38.588
  • Explain, and we should be okay with that.
  • 00:06:38.588 --> 00:06:40.356
  • And perhaps god was behind all the science.
  • 00:06:40.356 --> 00:06:45.495
  • After college, his interest in christianity had grown strong
  • 00:06:46.729 --> 00:06:49.632
  • Enough that he decided to try to become a minister.
  • 00:06:49.632 --> 00:06:52.301
  • So he put out his applications and they all came back with a
  • 00:06:52.301 --> 00:06:54.971
  • Resounding no.
  • 00:06:54.971 --> 00:06:57.273
  • Unfortunately, the church leaders took too much notice of
  • 00:06:57.273 --> 00:07:00.409
  • Babbage's unjustified reputation as an unpatriotic englishman,
  • 00:07:00.409 --> 00:07:05.047
  • And his applications were rejected.
  • 00:07:05.915 --> 00:07:10.353
  • They were like, yeah.
  • 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:11.988
  • You studied french and german math.
  • 00:07:11.988 --> 00:07:13.956
  • You might be a dirty, unpatriotic spy.
  • 00:07:13.956 --> 00:07:16.259
  • No, thanks.
  • 00:07:16.259 --> 00:07:17.393
  • But the rejection didn't stifle his faith.
  • 00:07:17.393 --> 00:07:20.696
  • He would go on to write many published works that future
  • 00:07:20.696 --> 00:07:23.766
  • Christian leaders would use to defend creationism and the idea
  • 00:07:23.766 --> 00:07:26.869
  • Of a supreme being.
  • 00:07:26.869 --> 00:07:28.538
  • He defended his belief in god in science by writing many
  • 00:07:28.538 --> 00:07:31.741
  • Articles.
  • 00:07:31.741 --> 00:07:33.109
  • One of them would even appear in a popular journal called on the
  • 00:07:33.109 --> 00:07:35.912
  • Power, wisdom, and goodness of god, as manifest in creation.
  • 00:07:35.912 --> 00:07:40.182
  • And get this, it wasn't published by the church,
  • 00:07:40.182 --> 00:07:44.153
  • But actually published and funded by the royal society,
  • 00:07:44.153 --> 00:07:48.524
  • The leading scientific community in the world.
  • 00:07:48.524 --> 00:07:51.460
  • Today, this is unheard of.
  • 00:07:52.094 --> 00:07:54.263
  • In science, in faith, no longer really get along.
  • 00:07:54.263 --> 00:07:58.000
  • It seems that science is actually trying to prove that
  • 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:02.371
  • There isn't a god.
  • 00:08:02.371 --> 00:08:03.906
  • And unfortunately, faith is no longer welcome to participate in
  • 00:08:03.906 --> 00:08:08.811
  • Any scientific discussion.
  • 00:08:08.811 --> 00:08:11.314
  • A biographer once said.
  • 00:08:11.314 --> 00:08:12.682
  • - babbage believed that the
  • 00:08:12.682 --> 00:08:14.317
  • Scientific method pursued to the max was entirely able to reveal
  • 00:08:14.317 --> 00:08:18.588
  • The handiwork of god.
  • 00:08:18.588 --> 00:08:19.989
  • - and that's exactly what happened.
  • 00:08:19.989 --> 00:08:21.424
  • After babbage's rejection from the church,
  • 00:08:21.424 --> 00:08:23.826
  • He made it his mission to prove that god existed within the
  • 00:08:23.826 --> 00:08:27.897
  • World of science, and that a divine order could be found
  • 00:08:27.897 --> 00:08:31.467
  • Specifically within mathematics.
  • 00:08:31.467 --> 00:08:34.670
  • Thanks to his rejection by the church.
  • 00:08:35.571 --> 00:08:37.373
  • Science became his greatest pulpit.
  • 00:08:37.373 --> 00:08:40.309
  • - a minister of mathematics.
  • 00:08:40.977 --> 00:08:45.047
  • - babbage became one of the world's leading mathematicians
  • 00:08:46.282 --> 00:08:48.784
  • And a professor here at cambridge university.
  • 00:08:48.784 --> 00:08:50.653
  • He quickly rose through the ranks and would eventually hold
  • 00:08:50.653 --> 00:08:54.056
  • The same position here at cambridge that geniuses like
  • 00:08:54.056 --> 00:08:57.026
  • Isaac newton, and more recently, stephen hawking, held.
  • 00:08:57.026 --> 00:09:01.564
  • He then became a lecturer at the royal institution,
  • 00:09:02.632 --> 00:09:05.234
  • Where he taught.
  • 00:09:05.234 --> 00:09:06.235
  • Not math, surprisingly, but astronomy.
  • 00:09:06.235 --> 00:09:09.305
  • But his head was less in the classroom and more on working
  • 00:09:09.305 --> 00:09:12.108
  • With his hands, inventing stuff.
  • 00:09:12.108 --> 00:09:14.610
  • Wherever he saw a problem, he figured there had to be a
  • 00:09:15.778 --> 00:09:18.014
  • Solution.
  • 00:09:18.014 --> 00:09:18.948
  • Along with numerous other discoveries.
  • 00:09:18.948 --> 00:09:20.916
  • He came up with ways to make factories more effective,
  • 00:09:20.916 --> 00:09:23.519
  • Trains avoid calculations, and how to make books more
  • 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:26.956
  • Affordable.
  • 00:09:26.956 --> 00:09:28.290
  • Unfortunately, the one problem he could never find a solution
  • 00:09:28.290 --> 00:09:31.327
  • To, and one that plagued him his entire life,
  • 00:09:31.327 --> 00:09:33.362
  • Is what he called public nuisances.
  • 00:09:33.362 --> 00:09:36.565
  • You see, london back in the day, was a pretty busy place, right?
  • 00:09:36.565 --> 00:09:39.168
  • There were street musicians and drunks and children running wild
  • 00:09:39.168 --> 00:09:42.438
  • In the streets.
  • 00:09:42.438 --> 00:09:43.773
  • He saw this as an interruption to his brainstorming sessions.
  • 00:09:43.773 --> 00:09:46.742
  • Well, he definitely needs his peace and quiet,
  • 00:09:46.742 --> 00:09:49.445
  • Because he was right in the middle of developing his
  • 00:09:49.445 --> 00:09:52.281
  • Greatest breakthrough — a calculating machine.
  • 00:09:52.281 --> 00:09:57.520
  • Now, this was 200 years ago.
  • 00:09:58.187 --> 00:10:00.756
  • They didn't even have electricity.
  • 00:10:00.756 --> 00:10:02.458
  • Everything was either powered by a horse or a steam engine,
  • 00:10:02.458 --> 00:10:05.327
  • A brand new invention that had just hit the market.
  • 00:10:05.327 --> 00:10:07.997
  • Remember, this was the dawn of the industrial age.
  • 00:10:07.997 --> 00:10:10.833
  • Let's go ahead.
  • 00:10:10.833 --> 00:10:12.334
  • For scientists, mathematical tables were still being
  • 00:10:13.469 --> 00:10:16.338
  • Calculated by hand and were not very accurate,
  • 00:10:16.338 --> 00:10:19.108
  • Which led to massive amounts of human error.
  • 00:10:19.108 --> 00:10:21.477
  • Can you imagine adding up the price of a large walmart cart
  • 00:10:21.477 --> 00:10:24.613
  • Full of stuff by hand, or figuring out complex aviation
  • 00:10:24.613 --> 00:10:28.250
  • Routes on paper?
  • 00:10:28.250 --> 00:10:29.452
  • I mean, that's an insane amount of brainpower in math.
  • 00:10:29.452 --> 00:10:33.155
  • Some of it, pretty dangerous.
  • 00:10:33.155 --> 00:10:35.825
  • Obviously mistakes were common.
  • 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:37.827
  • There was miscalculation in both the transcription and the
  • 00:10:37.827 --> 00:10:40.730
  • Calculation, and babbage felt like this added up to way too
  • 00:10:40.730 --> 00:10:43.165
  • Many inaccuracies.
  • 00:10:43.165 --> 00:10:44.533
  • So he pulled a babbage and came up with a solution,
  • 00:10:44.533 --> 00:10:47.470
  • The difference engine, a mechanical calculator.
  • 00:10:47.470 --> 00:10:52.508
  • After a few years of kicking around this crazy idea in his
  • 00:10:53.743 --> 00:10:56.312
  • Head, he finally pitched the project to the royal society in
  • 00:10:56.312 --> 00:10:59.081
  • London.
  • 00:10:59.081 --> 00:11:00.182
  • - and that's what i call the difference engine.
  • 00:11:00.182 --> 00:11:04.920
  • - i like it.
  • 00:11:05.321 --> 00:11:06.255
  • - i like it a lot.
  • 00:11:06.255 --> 00:11:07.723
  • - you got a deal.
  • 00:11:07.723 --> 00:11:09.525
  • Yeah.
  • 00:11:09.825 --> 00:11:10.760
  • It's a good handshake you got there.
  • 00:11:10.760 --> 00:11:11.994
  • - well, the royal society loved his idea and gave it their
  • 00:11:11.994 --> 00:11:15.798
  • Enthusiastic support.
  • 00:11:15.798 --> 00:11:17.299
  • They then recommended a financial investment to
  • 00:11:17.299 --> 00:11:19.135
  • England's prime minister, sir robert peel.
  • 00:11:19.135 --> 00:11:22.404
  • London in the 1800s was basically the silicon valley of
  • 00:11:22.505 --> 00:11:25.441
  • The day.
  • 00:11:25.441 --> 00:11:26.742
  • It seemed like a new invention or startup was changing the
  • 00:11:26.742 --> 00:11:28.377
  • World, nearly every week.
  • 00:11:28.377 --> 00:11:30.279
  • London was at the time the place to be if you had a new
  • 00:11:31.413 --> 00:11:34.250
  • Technology and were looking for funding.
  • 00:11:34.250 --> 00:11:36.252
  • And boy, were there some groundbreaking inventions.
  • 00:11:36.252 --> 00:11:39.855
  • Prime minister peel had the sole power to fund babbage's
  • 00:11:39.955 --> 00:11:43.092
  • Calculation machine.
  • 00:11:43.092 --> 00:11:44.393
  • He was the guy who wrote all the checks on behalf of england.
  • 00:11:44.393 --> 00:11:47.563
  • - the government of england is so proud to invest in the
  • 00:11:47.563 --> 00:11:51.534
  • Ingenuity of its people with such great inventions.
  • 00:11:51.534 --> 00:11:55.271
  • - stamps.
  • 00:11:55.271 --> 00:11:56.338
  • Postage stamps.
  • 00:11:56.338 --> 00:11:57.907
  • You can't mail a letter without them.
  • 00:11:57.907 --> 00:12:00.075
  • - bicycle pedals.
  • 00:12:00.075 --> 00:12:01.510
  • It took me five years, but i did it.
  • 00:12:01.510 --> 00:12:03.879
  • What am i going to do with all that money?
  • 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:05.681
  • Invent more bicycle pedals.
  • 00:12:05.681 --> 00:12:07.082
  • That's what i'm going to do.
  • 00:12:07.082 --> 00:12:08.417
  • - i invented cement.
  • 00:12:08.951 --> 00:12:10.085
  • It's basically road pudding.
  • 00:12:10.085 --> 00:12:13.355
  • And that lady with the bicycles?
  • 00:12:14.056 --> 00:12:15.457
  • Yeah.
  • 00:12:15.457 --> 00:12:16.258
  • She's got to ride on something.
  • 00:12:16.258 --> 00:12:17.893
  • - in all seriousness, there was some really big innovation
  • 00:12:17.993 --> 00:12:20.162
  • Happening at the time.
  • 00:12:20.162 --> 00:12:21.397
  • Investors were looking to fund the next big adventure.
  • 00:12:21.397 --> 00:12:23.632
  • Inventors just like charles babbage.
  • 00:12:23.632 --> 00:12:26.569
  • With the royal society's favorable report,
  • 00:12:26.669 --> 00:12:28.838
  • Babbage went after the biggest investor of them all,
  • 00:12:28.838 --> 00:12:31.540
  • The government.
  • 00:12:31.540 --> 00:12:33.142
  • - good luck with your steam powered math engine.
  • 00:12:33.142 --> 00:12:37.246
  • Smile for the birdie.
  • 00:12:37.813 --> 00:12:39.715
  • - the prime minister committed to help fund babbage's new wild
  • 00:12:39.815 --> 00:12:42.918
  • Idea of a difference engine.
  • 00:12:42.918 --> 00:12:44.954
  • Okay, so the difference engine.
  • 00:12:44.954 --> 00:12:47.790
  • It was basically the world's first calculator.
  • 00:12:47.790 --> 00:12:50.693
  • It could be set up to compute any value up to a certain amount
  • 00:12:50.693 --> 00:12:53.762
  • Of digits using the metric of differences.
  • 00:12:53.762 --> 00:12:56.232
  • It then automatically stepped to the value and printed the
  • 00:12:56.232 --> 00:12:59.134
  • Results.
  • 00:12:59.134 --> 00:13:00.236
  • Taking human error sweetly out of the equation.
  • 00:13:00.236 --> 00:13:02.805
  • (music playing)
  • 00:13:02.805 --> 00:13:10.713
  • Even though babbage had the money to fund his project,
  • 00:13:10.713 --> 00:13:12.748
  • It took a little while to get his invention up and running.
  • 00:13:12.748 --> 00:13:15.417
  • In fact, it's here at the science museum in london that
  • 00:13:15.417 --> 00:13:18.821
  • You can see all of his prototypes and the countless
  • 00:13:18.821 --> 00:13:22.024
  • Notebooks that he meticulously filled during the process.
  • 00:13:22.024 --> 00:13:24.526
  • Babbage was all about the research.
  • 00:13:24.526 --> 00:13:27.763
  • Every idea, fully explored, every option taken to account.
  • 00:13:27.763 --> 00:13:31.433
  • As long as he had the money, he was going to keep researching.
  • 00:13:31.433 --> 00:13:34.470
  • You see, he was great when it came to research and
  • 00:13:34.470 --> 00:13:37.806
  • Experimentation.
  • 00:13:37.806 --> 00:13:38.941
  • But just like some of the greatest inventors before
  • 00:13:38.941 --> 00:13:41.076
  • Babbage, he was terrible at managing his time and money.
  • 00:13:41.076 --> 00:13:46.448
  • - give me an engineer.
  • 00:13:47.016 --> 00:13:48.017
  • (music playing)
  • 00:13:48.017 --> 00:13:51.253
  • Give me three engineers.
  • 00:13:51.253 --> 00:13:53.455
  • Give me 12 engineers.
  • 00:13:54.023 --> 00:13:55.324
  • - it ended up taking a little more time than he originally
  • 00:13:55.324 --> 00:13:58.127
  • Planned.
  • 00:13:58.127 --> 00:13:59.495
  • In fact, it took way longer to design and build the difference
  • 00:13:59.495 --> 00:14:02.331
  • Engine.
  • 00:14:02.331 --> 00:14:03.132
  • - we don't have any more money.
  • 00:14:03.132 --> 00:14:04.099
  • We can't hire anyone else.
  • 00:14:04.099 --> 00:14:05.601
  • You've burned through all the cash.
  • 00:14:05.601 --> 00:14:07.836
  • - what do you do around here?
  • 00:14:07.836 --> 00:14:09.672
  • - i'm your accountant, sir.
  • 00:14:09.672 --> 00:14:11.573
  • - i don't need accountants, i need engineers.
  • 00:14:11.573 --> 00:14:14.109
  • You're fired.
  • 00:14:14.109 --> 00:14:16.812
  • Hire one more engineer, and more cookies.
  • 00:14:17.680 --> 00:14:23.319
  • - this was a very complex machine.
  • 00:14:24.086 --> 00:14:26.388
  • They called for the creation of special tools and a bunch of
  • 00:14:26.388 --> 00:14:29.258
  • Skilled engineers.
  • 00:14:29.258 --> 00:14:30.492
  • But just like some of the greatest computer companies
  • 00:14:30.492 --> 00:14:32.294
  • After babbage, like microsoft, amazon, apple,
  • 00:14:32.294 --> 00:14:35.364
  • They all started in a garage.
  • 00:14:35.364 --> 00:14:37.733
  • - no, that's not right.
  • 00:14:37.733 --> 00:14:38.968
  • - it's true.
  • 00:14:38.968 --> 00:14:40.135
  • Babbage started his computer company in a garage.
  • 00:14:40.135 --> 00:14:42.838
  • Okay, not really in the garage, per se.
  • 00:14:42.838 --> 00:14:45.874
  • He actually had a nice garage down at the workshop,
  • 00:14:45.874 --> 00:14:47.910
  • Big enough.
  • 00:14:47.910 --> 00:14:48.877
  • This computer he was creating was huge.
  • 00:14:48.877 --> 00:14:51.547
  • In 1832, a prototype of a small difference engine had been
  • 00:14:51.547 --> 00:14:56.051
  • Successfully completed.
  • 00:14:56.051 --> 00:14:57.219
  • You can see it here at the science museum in london.
  • 00:14:57.219 --> 00:15:00.222
  • The difference engine was a brilliant but crude first step
  • 00:15:00.222 --> 00:15:03.559
  • Into computing machines.
  • 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:04.927
  • It would be babbage's next idea that would truly lay the
  • 00:15:04.927 --> 00:15:08.364
  • Groundwork for our computers today.
  • 00:15:08.364 --> 00:15:09.565
  • He called it the analytical engine.
  • 00:15:09.565 --> 00:15:13.402
  • This machine can perform the four fundamental functions of
  • 00:15:14.636 --> 00:15:17.606
  • Arithmetic, but it would be way more than just a calculator.
  • 00:15:17.606 --> 00:15:20.743
  • It would act as a computer.
  • 00:15:20.743 --> 00:15:22.711
  • It would be able to process decisions and logical functions
  • 00:15:22.711 --> 00:15:25.814
  • And would actually have its own internal memory.
  • 00:15:25.814 --> 00:15:28.917
  • Exactly like our computers today.
  • 00:15:28.917 --> 00:15:31.220
  • But of course, it didn't look like anything we have today.
  • 00:15:31.220 --> 00:15:34.456
  • This was an engine, like a train.
  • 00:15:34.456 --> 00:15:38.494
  • To talk a little bit more about babbage's idea of a mechanical
  • 00:15:39.795 --> 00:15:42.398
  • Computer, we need to speak with doctor tilly blythe,
  • 00:15:42.398 --> 00:15:45.234
  • The principal curator at the science museum in london.
  • 00:15:45.234 --> 00:15:48.137
  • So you have a ton of babbage's machines here.
  • 00:15:48.137 --> 00:15:50.272
  • What exactly do you have?
  • 00:15:50.272 --> 00:15:51.673
  • - we really have an amazing collection of his machines.
  • 00:15:51.774 --> 00:15:54.410
  • So we have the difference engine number one,
  • 00:15:54.410 --> 00:15:56.645
  • Which was just the small fragment that he developed to
  • 00:15:56.645 --> 00:15:59.381
  • Show people his ideas.
  • 00:15:59.381 --> 00:16:00.649
  • Then we have an element called the mill,
  • 00:16:00.649 --> 00:16:03.419
  • Which is part of the analytical engine,
  • 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:05.554
  • Which is the machine that we might think of as more of a
  • 00:16:05.554 --> 00:16:08.090
  • Computer.
  • 00:16:08.090 --> 00:16:09.458
  • - sure.
  • 00:16:09.458 --> 00:16:10.759
  • - and then we also have the difference engine number two,
  • 00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:13.362
  • Which is a machine that we built, at the science museum,
  • 00:16:13.362 --> 00:16:16.799
  • Following the specifications that babbage actually created in
  • 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:20.469
  • His own designs.
  • 00:16:20.469 --> 00:16:21.937
  • - if you could explain to us the main differences between the
  • 00:16:21.937 --> 00:16:24.873
  • Difference engine and the analytical engine?
  • 00:16:24.873 --> 00:16:26.842
  • - that's a really good question, because it goes right to the
  • 00:16:26.842 --> 00:16:29.611
  • Heart of what babbage did for all of us.
  • 00:16:29.611 --> 00:16:32.247
  • So the difference engine is effectively like a calculator.
  • 00:16:32.247 --> 00:16:37.386
  • That's all it is.
  • 00:16:37.386 --> 00:16:38.720
  • It does a series of calculations on polynomial equations using
  • 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:43.425
  • Only addition.
  • 00:16:43.425 --> 00:16:44.793
  • So it's a very clever machine and it can effectively work out
  • 00:16:44.793 --> 00:16:47.596
  • Equations using just addition, which is an incredible thing.
  • 00:16:47.596 --> 00:16:52.501
  • But then by the 1830s, he moved on to this different type of
  • 00:16:52.501 --> 00:16:57.139
  • Engine, the analytical engine.
  • 00:16:57.139 --> 00:16:59.408
  • And it's the analytical engine that really makes a massive
  • 00:16:59.408 --> 00:17:02.144
  • Intellectual leap from the idea of a calculator to the idea of a
  • 00:17:02.144 --> 00:17:07.583
  • Computer.
  • 00:17:07.583 --> 00:17:08.917
  • And it had some of the core components of what we would now
  • 00:17:08.917 --> 00:17:11.286
  • Think of as a computer.
  • 00:17:11.286 --> 00:17:12.921
  • So it had the mill, which is effectively like the processor
  • 00:17:12.921 --> 00:17:18.227
  • That we would get in the computer today.
  • 00:17:18.227 --> 00:17:19.828
  • And then it had the store, which is like the memory of a
  • 00:17:19.828 --> 00:17:23.232
  • Computer.
  • 00:17:23.232 --> 00:17:24.433
  • So those are kind of key architectural features that we
  • 00:17:24.433 --> 00:17:26.635
  • Would think of when we see a computer.
  • 00:17:26.635 --> 00:17:28.337
  • - can you put into context how revolutionary the idea of a
  • 00:17:28.337 --> 00:17:32.274
  • Mechanical calculator was?
  • 00:17:32.274 --> 00:17:34.243
  • - again, if you think about what babbage was referencing,
  • 00:17:34.243 --> 00:17:37.412
  • He was looking at these incredible steam engines that
  • 00:17:37.412 --> 00:17:39.882
  • Had been built during the industrial revolution.
  • 00:17:39.882 --> 00:17:42.951
  • Babbage sees this and says, we could put this into thought.
  • 00:17:42.951 --> 00:17:48.257
  • We could put this power into thought,
  • 00:17:48.257 --> 00:17:50.392
  • Which is an incredible intellectual leap,
  • 00:17:50.392 --> 00:17:52.828
  • If you think about it.
  • 00:17:52.828 --> 00:17:54.029
  • - so talk about the mechanics of the engine itself.
  • 00:17:54.029 --> 00:17:57.032
  • - so the two engines would have been quite different.
  • 00:17:57.032 --> 00:17:59.735
  • But the analytical engine, would have been the size of a room,
  • 00:17:59.735 --> 00:18:05.507
  • Or even bigger, depending on how big you made the store,
  • 00:18:05.507 --> 00:18:10.345
  • The memory for the machine.
  • 00:18:10.345 --> 00:18:11.914
  • Unlike the difference engine, which was going to be powered by
  • 00:18:11.914 --> 00:18:14.883
  • A human turning handle, the analytical engine would have
  • 00:18:14.883 --> 00:18:19.621
  • Been powered by steam.
  • 00:18:19.621 --> 00:18:20.822
  • So again, babbage had seen these wonderful machines,
  • 00:18:20.822 --> 00:18:23.759
  • Engines that were producing all sorts of goods.
  • 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:27.129
  • And he used ideas that he'd seen in other machines.
  • 00:18:27.129 --> 00:18:31.633
  • So he had seen something called the jacquard loom,
  • 00:18:31.633 --> 00:18:34.469
  • Which is a machine that used punch cards for creating
  • 00:18:34.469 --> 00:18:38.140
  • Beautiful woven textiles.
  • 00:18:38.140 --> 00:18:40.075
  • And the cards with the holes would actually describe the
  • 00:18:40.075 --> 00:18:43.779
  • Pattern that ended up in the textiles.
  • 00:18:43.779 --> 00:18:45.547
  • - so like an algorithm?
  • 00:18:45.547 --> 00:18:46.481
  • - exactly.
  • 00:18:46.481 --> 00:18:47.249
  • Just like an algorithm.
  • 00:18:47.249 --> 00:18:48.617
  • And he saw that and thought, i can use this and apply it to my
  • 00:18:48.617 --> 00:18:52.221
  • Analytical engine.
  • 00:18:52.221 --> 00:18:53.722
  • So he would take punch cards and he would use those cards to
  • 00:18:53.722 --> 00:18:57.759
  • Describe where the numbers were that they should be worked on,
  • 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:02.364
  • Where they could be found, where they would be stored in the
  • 00:19:02.364 --> 00:19:05.434
  • Machine, but also which numbers to actually work on.
  • 00:19:05.434 --> 00:19:08.170
  • - so where do you think the world would be without charles
  • 00:19:08.170 --> 00:19:10.906
  • Babbage?
  • 00:19:10.906 --> 00:19:12.040
  • - it's a very interesting question,
  • 00:19:12.874 --> 00:19:14.643
  • Because it was 100 years later that alan turing started to
  • 00:19:14.643 --> 00:19:18.580
  • Build digital electronic machines.
  • 00:19:18.580 --> 00:19:20.515
  • But i like to think that babbage and his accomplice actually were
  • 00:19:20.515 --> 00:19:26.955
  • Really kind of computer visionaries.
  • 00:19:26.955 --> 00:19:28.824
  • They enabled people to start to think about the capability of a
  • 00:19:28.824 --> 00:19:35.330
  • Machine and how we might apply a machine not just to think about
  • 00:19:35.330 --> 00:19:39.501
  • Creating matter, but helping us to create minds.
  • 00:19:39.501 --> 00:19:42.704
  • So we've really jumped from thing to thought.
  • 00:19:42.704 --> 00:19:45.440
  • And that's an incredible leap.
  • 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:48.477
  • - isn't it crazy to think that babbage's machine was literally
  • 00:19:48.577 --> 00:19:52.381
  • A computer engine like a tesla?
  • 00:19:52.381 --> 00:19:55.851
  • Well, not really.
  • 00:19:55.851 --> 00:19:57.486
  • Although elon and babbage do have one thing in common.
  • 00:19:57.486 --> 00:20:01.156
  • They've both been accused of never turning a profit.
  • 00:20:01.156 --> 00:20:03.458
  • For elon, though, i mean, he's got his rocket ships and his
  • 00:20:03.458 --> 00:20:07.129
  • Flamethrowers, so he'll be fine.
  • 00:20:07.129 --> 00:20:08.597
  • But for babbage, well, he had to answer to his creditors,
  • 00:20:08.597 --> 00:20:12.100
  • The government of england.
  • 00:20:12.100 --> 00:20:14.670
  • - but i'm so close.
  • 00:20:14.670 --> 00:20:16.305
  • I'm one version away from a final product that.
  • 00:20:17.372 --> 00:20:20.075
  • - no.
  • 00:20:20.075 --> 00:20:21.643
  • You don't have a product at all.
  • 00:20:21.643 --> 00:20:23.478
  • Like, absolutely none.
  • 00:20:23.478 --> 00:20:25.514
  • Do you understand?
  • 00:20:25.514 --> 00:20:28.116
  • - it's all right here in my notebook.
  • 00:20:28.984 --> 00:20:32.854
  • - and that's the only place they exist.
  • 00:20:33.755 --> 00:20:35.991
  • In your notebooks.
  • 00:20:35.991 --> 00:20:40.929
  • - you see, babbage was a great idea guy,
  • 00:20:41.863 --> 00:20:44.066
  • But actually never built the machine he promised to the prime
  • 00:20:44.066 --> 00:20:47.069
  • Minister.
  • 00:20:47.069 --> 00:20:48.136
  • His brilliance got the best of him.
  • 00:20:48.136 --> 00:20:49.971
  • He was so deep in trying to perfect the technology,
  • 00:20:49.971 --> 00:20:52.974
  • But he kept having idea after idea on how to improve it.
  • 00:20:52.974 --> 00:20:56.478
  • He never got around to actually finishing any of his computing
  • 00:20:56.478 --> 00:21:00.282
  • Machines, which is probably the real reason why so many people
  • 00:21:00.282 --> 00:21:03.752
  • Have never heard of it.
  • 00:21:03.752 --> 00:21:05.020
  • It's not how you start, it's how you finish.
  • 00:21:05.020 --> 00:21:07.923
  • Not delivering on your investment will end up catching
  • 00:21:08.023 --> 00:21:10.092
  • Up to you.
  • 00:21:10.092 --> 00:21:10.726
  • And it did.
  • 00:21:10.726 --> 00:21:12.127
  • Babbage had been given a ton of money by the british government
  • 00:21:12.127 --> 00:21:14.062
  • To create his machine, and ended up not doing the work.
  • 00:21:14.062 --> 00:21:17.132
  • I mean, he did the work intellectually,
  • 00:21:17.132 --> 00:21:19.368
  • But not physically.
  • 00:21:19.368 --> 00:21:20.802
  • The government threatened to shut down funding because all
  • 00:21:20.802 --> 00:21:23.505
  • Babbage had to show for it was a bunch of notebooks filled with
  • 00:21:23.505 --> 00:21:25.807
  • Ideas and schematics.
  • 00:21:25.807 --> 00:21:27.275
  • Those notebooks, by the way, we'll come back to in a minute.
  • 00:21:27.275 --> 00:21:31.380
  • His goal was to keep his invention from becoming out of
  • 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:34.282
  • Sight, out of mind.
  • 00:21:34.282 --> 00:21:35.517
  • So he would host these lavish parties at his home.
  • 00:21:35.517 --> 00:21:38.353
  • For a guy who wanted to be a minister,
  • 00:21:38.353 --> 00:21:40.622
  • He sure did know how to party.
  • 00:21:40.622 --> 00:21:42.457
  • Some of the most famous names of the time showed up his social
  • 00:21:42.457 --> 00:21:46.061
  • Soirees, from lord byron to charles dickens.
  • 00:21:46.061 --> 00:21:49.131
  • No one who wanted to miss a babbage party.
  • 00:21:49.131 --> 00:21:52.567
  • The central attraction to his events would, of course,
  • 00:21:53.735 --> 00:21:55.637
  • Be his prototype difference engine.
  • 00:21:55.637 --> 00:21:57.472
  • And right next to that, robots.
  • 00:21:57.472 --> 00:22:00.342
  • Yeah, they had robots in the 1800s.
  • 00:22:00.342 --> 00:22:04.146
  • - everyone.
  • 00:22:04.146 --> 00:22:07.115
  • - whoa.
  • 00:22:07.449 --> 00:22:15.791
  • - after a speech about the future of technology and his new
  • 00:22:16.992 --> 00:22:19.327
  • Ideas, his captive audience would begin to hear all the
  • 00:22:19.327 --> 00:22:22.931
  • Possibilities of his newest computing machine.
  • 00:22:22.931 --> 00:22:25.767
  • - it can also skip the intervening cards,
  • 00:22:25.767 --> 00:22:33.608
  • Which causes the previously red cards to be processed again.
  • 00:22:33.608 --> 00:22:45.954
  • Are there any questions?
  • 00:22:46.521 --> 00:22:48.323
  • Yes, ma'am.
  • 00:22:48.323 --> 00:22:49.925
  • - can it play music or perhaps paint a picture?
  • 00:22:49.925 --> 00:22:52.327
  • Or could it send messages across the country via text?
  • 00:22:52.327 --> 00:22:58.700
  • - you see babbage's idea for the future of this analytical engine
  • 00:22:59.968 --> 00:23:03.505
  • Only had to do with math.
  • 00:23:03.505 --> 00:23:05.307
  • And that's really boring.
  • 00:23:05.307 --> 00:23:07.309
  • He saw the machine being able to handle complex math problems,
  • 00:23:07.309 --> 00:23:10.912
  • Plot graphs, and maybe, just maybe, sine and cosine,
  • 00:23:10.912 --> 00:23:16.184
  • Whatever that means.
  • 00:23:16.184 --> 00:23:17.519
  • And that's so not, in any way, shape or form the coolest way to
  • 00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:20.722
  • Sell the future of your idea.
  • 00:23:20.722 --> 00:23:22.123
  • - surely the computer's more important than bike pedals.
  • 00:23:22.123 --> 00:23:25.961
  • - but there was one person fascinated by the analytical
  • 00:23:25.961 --> 00:23:29.965
  • Engine.
  • 00:23:29.965 --> 00:23:31.032
  • A beautiful young woman named ada lovelace.
  • 00:23:31.032 --> 00:23:34.002
  • - lovelace.
  • 00:23:34.002 --> 00:23:35.437
  • Ada lovelace.
  • 00:23:35.437 --> 00:23:37.439
  • Not the bomb girl, the mathematician.
  • 00:23:37.539 --> 00:23:39.107
  • - she was the daughter of the famous poet lord byron.
  • 00:23:39.107 --> 00:23:42.644
  • Ada lovelace threw herself into this new tech.
  • 00:23:42.644 --> 00:23:45.747
  • She would eventually go down in history as one of the very first
  • 00:23:45.747 --> 00:23:49.584
  • Software programmers ever.
  • 00:23:49.584 --> 00:23:53.722
  • Babbage and ada formed a great team.
  • 00:23:54.589 --> 00:23:56.525
  • While babbage saw the hardware of the future,
  • 00:23:56.525 --> 00:23:58.660
  • Lovelace saw the software.
  • 00:23:58.660 --> 00:24:01.429
  • - bill gates ain't got nothing on me.
  • 00:24:01.530 --> 00:24:04.799
  • I've programed it to scoop the litter box and put the cat back
  • 00:24:04.900 --> 00:24:08.670
  • On the toothpaste.
  • 00:24:08.670 --> 00:24:09.938
  • -uh-huh.
  • 00:24:09.938 --> 00:24:11.172
  • - very excited.
  • 00:24:11.172 --> 00:24:12.240
  • - oh, now, that's the litter box right there.
  • 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:14.042
  • Yes.
  • 00:24:14.042 --> 00:24:15.410
  • - she believed anything you can create, like music or artwork,
  • 00:24:15.410 --> 00:24:18.213
  • The computer could reproduce mechanically.
  • 00:24:18.213 --> 00:24:21.082
  • Really, lovelace saw the technology we have today,
  • 00:24:21.082 --> 00:24:24.419
  • Almost 200 years ago.
  • 00:24:24.419 --> 00:24:26.154
  • She could see the future of technology when others couldn't.
  • 00:24:26.154 --> 00:24:29.991
  • And just like all great tech ceos,
  • 00:24:29.991 --> 00:24:32.227
  • She was one heck of a salesperson.
  • 00:24:32.227 --> 00:24:34.863
  • - the analytical engine weaves algebraic patterns just as the
  • 00:24:34.963 --> 00:24:38.366
  • Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.
  • 00:24:38.366 --> 00:24:40.402
  • But the analytical engine might act upon other things besides
  • 00:24:40.402 --> 00:24:46.508
  • Numbers.
  • 00:24:46.508 --> 00:24:48.076
  • Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of
  • 00:24:48.176 --> 00:24:52.213
  • Pitch sounds and the science of harmonies and musical
  • 00:24:52.213 --> 00:24:56.985
  • Composition were susceptible to such expressions and
  • 00:24:56.985 --> 00:25:01.489
  • Adaptations.
  • 00:25:01.489 --> 00:25:02.991
  • Ladies and gentlemen, this is not just math.
  • 00:25:02.991 --> 00:25:11.032
  • This is art.
  • 00:25:11.433 --> 00:25:12.734
  • - but unfortunately, in 1842, at the height of their work,
  • 00:25:12.734 --> 00:25:15.971
  • The final government check was canceled,
  • 00:25:15.971 --> 00:25:18.440
  • And prime minister peel pulled the plug on the project
  • 00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:21.009
  • Permanently.
  • 00:25:21.009 --> 00:25:22.844
  • - leave it to a man to ruin everything.
  • 00:25:23.778 --> 00:25:28.383
  • - too many years had passed without results.
  • 00:25:29.351 --> 00:25:31.152
  • After a heated meeting where babbage went off on the prime
  • 00:25:31.152 --> 00:25:33.855
  • Minister, he stormed out of the office and slammed the door on
  • 00:25:33.855 --> 00:25:36.691
  • The era of his calculating machines.
  • 00:25:36.691 --> 00:25:38.627
  • Once that happened, nearly all private investment dried up as
  • 00:25:38.627 --> 00:25:42.697
  • Well.
  • 00:25:42.697 --> 00:25:44.332
  • After years of hard work on what he believed to be the invention
  • 00:25:44.432 --> 00:25:48.136
  • Of all inventions, no one was interested anymore.
  • 00:25:48.136 --> 00:25:51.906
  • Over the next three decades, the world of science would begin to
  • 00:25:51.906 --> 00:25:54.676
  • Radically transform.
  • 00:25:54.676 --> 00:25:56.144
  • The darwinian revolution and rise of other anti-faith
  • 00:25:56.144 --> 00:25:59.447
  • Institutions would trample the biblical faith that babbage had
  • 00:25:59.447 --> 00:26:02.917
  • Built his entire life's work on.
  • 00:26:02.917 --> 00:26:04.686
  • This put a lot of pressure on the aging mathematician,
  • 00:26:04.686 --> 00:26:07.989
  • And many begin to argue that he should change his views on god
  • 00:26:07.989 --> 00:26:10.825
  • And science to accept theories like social darwinism and
  • 00:26:10.825 --> 00:26:14.295
  • Evolution.
  • 00:26:14.295 --> 00:26:15.463
  • But babbage held fast and was secure in his faith.
  • 00:26:15.463 --> 00:26:18.600
  • - no amount of pressure or argument will ever allow me to
  • 00:26:19.801 --> 00:26:27.042
  • Put away my faith in god.
  • 00:26:27.042 --> 00:26:30.845
  • God is the greatest mathematician.
  • 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:37.085
  • - despite pressure to believe otherwise,
  • 00:26:37.986 --> 00:26:39.487
  • Babbage believed science could prove god's existence.
  • 00:26:39.487 --> 00:26:42.791
  • - and even in man's best efforts,
  • 00:26:43.525 --> 00:26:48.363
  • We will never fully comprehend his perfection.
  • 00:26:49.364 --> 00:26:54.369
  • - charles babbage died quietly on october 18th, 1871,
  • 00:26:55.503 --> 00:26:59.507
  • Leaving behind three children, a wife,
  • 00:26:59.507 --> 00:27:01.810
  • And an incomplete lifelong project.
  • 00:27:01.810 --> 00:27:05.013
  • Now that could have been the end of the story,
  • 00:27:05.113 --> 00:27:07.048
  • We could still be adding up numbers and long rows of paper
  • 00:27:07.048 --> 00:27:09.651
  • And sending telegrams instead of emails.
  • 00:27:09.651 --> 00:27:11.786
  • But thank god that wasn't the end.
  • 00:27:11.786 --> 00:27:14.122
  • (music playing)
  • 00:27:14.122 --> 00:27:19.861
  • Fast forward 66 years, and this difference engine was literally
  • 00:27:19.861 --> 00:27:23.331
  • Sitting in the archives of the science museum in london
  • 00:27:23.331 --> 00:27:26.134
  • Collecting dust.
  • 00:27:26.134 --> 00:27:27.502
  • But thanks to a few top secret experiments leading up to world
  • 00:27:27.502 --> 00:27:30.538
  • War 2, a brand new generation of scientists stumbled upon his
  • 00:27:30.538 --> 00:27:34.642
  • Writings.
  • 00:27:34.642 --> 00:27:35.510
  • - we found it.
  • 00:27:35.510 --> 00:27:37.746
  • - when the scientists began analyzing babbage's notebooks,
  • 00:27:37.846 --> 00:27:40.315
  • They literally found the solution to their computing
  • 00:27:40.315 --> 00:27:43.151
  • Problems.
  • 00:27:43.151 --> 00:27:44.452
  • The principles of computer storage and memory that babbage
  • 00:27:44.452 --> 00:27:46.721
  • Had dreamed up were still sound.
  • 00:27:46.721 --> 00:27:48.723
  • - hey guys, what's this?
  • 00:27:49.290 --> 00:27:51.593
  • - not only did babbage set the stage for today's computer
  • 00:27:51.593 --> 00:27:54.696
  • Hardware, he also conceived the idea of writing software
  • 00:27:54.696 --> 00:27:57.799
  • Programs.
  • 00:27:57.799 --> 00:27:59.134
  • In fact, babbage's century old idea of writing programs for his
  • 00:27:59.134 --> 00:28:02.771
  • Machine still closely resembles how we program our computers to
  • 00:28:02.771 --> 00:28:07.242
  • This very day.
  • 00:28:07.242 --> 00:28:09.577
  • Charles babbage stood shoulder to shoulder with the leading
  • 00:28:09.677 --> 00:28:12.547
  • Scientists of britain.
  • 00:28:12.547 --> 00:28:13.848
  • Although he was a principal founder of the royal
  • 00:28:13.848 --> 00:28:16.451
  • Astronomical society and the british association for the
  • 00:28:16.451 --> 00:28:19.654
  • Advancement of science, if it were up to him,
  • 00:28:19.654 --> 00:28:22.090
  • He'd probably rather be known by how his friends described him.
  • 00:28:22.090 --> 00:28:26.594
  • Babbage's brilliant mind, half finished inventions and writings
  • 00:28:26.694 --> 00:28:29.597
  • Have impacted the world in undeniable ways.
  • 00:28:29.597 --> 00:28:32.901
  • He was able to bridge the gap between science and faith in
  • 00:28:32.901 --> 00:28:36.070
  • Spite of tremendous social and intellectual changes.
  • 00:28:36.070 --> 00:28:39.140
  • Today, when you sit down at your computer, pick up your phone,
  • 00:28:39.140 --> 00:28:42.744
  • I think it's important to remember how we got here.
  • 00:28:42.744 --> 00:28:45.647
  • It was all thanks to a failed minister that made science his
  • 00:28:45.647 --> 00:28:49.284
  • Ministry.
  • 00:28:49.284 --> 00:28:51.286
  • Maybe babbage was never meant to preach in the pulpit,
  • 00:28:51.386 --> 00:28:53.721
  • But his beliefs drove him to see the world in a way that took us
  • 00:28:53.721 --> 00:28:57.492
  • Out of the old world and into the modern world.
  • 00:28:57.492 --> 00:29:01.830
  • And i think that's what makes his name worth remembering.
  • 00:29:01.830 --> 00:29:05.200
  • Charles babbage, the true father of the modern computer.
  • 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:05.200