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How the Industrial Revolution invented modern computing

2026-01-23 14:00
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How the Industrial Revolution invented modern computing

Before computers existed, people performed massive calculations by hand where error, repetition, and standardization shaped the outcome. We tracked comets, mapped nations, and solved problems of scale...

Before computers existed, people performed massive calculations by hand where error, repetition, and standardization shaped the outcome. We tracked comets, mapped nations, and solved problems of scale. 

That legacy of manual calculation shapes how we live today;  our modern algorithms and the shaping of predictive models. Dr. David Alan Grier explains the unexpected link between the Industrial Revolution and artificial intelligence.

This video How the Industrial Revolution invented modern computing is featured on Big Think.