Did Ancient People Have Computers?

Learn about the computers we used long before the birth of modern electronics.

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[fgmenth]

3:35 : this is proof that controller drift has been a problem for thousands of years

[virtualfilmer]

Why is Riley so good at reading the autocue naturally and in a relaxed way?? So good. :)

[JohnnyThousand]

Archimedes' clock had an owl so it would've been a... hoo-hoo clock

[jeffhidalgo]

My commodore 64 felt ancient even when it was new but I guess it's better than an abacus. Just finished the whole video so your happiness is ensured!

[benketteridge]

Some points: the Ancient Greeks had heliocentric solar system models, no just Earth centred.
And Colossus & Colossus II at Bletchley Park in the UK came before Eniac.

[StevePhillipsFractals]

What abooot Babbage you Canadian cabbage! :)

[MikeCharnock]

ENIAC:1945, Collosus:1943/44, Z3:1941 - all programmable computers. ENIAC and Z3 were general purpose, Colossus was programmable but built with a specific purpose (codebreaking) in mind. Z3 was electromechanical, Colossus and ENIAC vacuum tube based.

[TyLarson]

Heron of Alexandria's amazing automated plays using ropes and knots was so cool. There is one with Dionysus who would pour wine into his panthers. He also invented automated doors, vending machines, and automata.

[marc_frank]

Clickspring has been rebuilding the Antikythera mechanism using plans created from 3d x-rays and self made tools consistent with what was available in the time period the mechanism originates from

[Wakobear.]

What about the programmable Jacquard Loom, which used punchcards similar to the paper tape of the Colossus computer a century and a half later.

[opmanzano]

It's amazing how little tech went forward during middle ages compared to what was developed in ancient Greece and Rome. Not only tech but also science, philosophy, etc. Humanity was halted by fear, religion and the most stupid wars.

[garenson]

All nice and good, but the first Computer was the Z3 by Konrad Zuse built in 1941.

[Kytetiger]

I really like this kind of video.
I was expecting a mention of Ada Lovelace, but i guess it will be in another video, about the 1st software

[csbruce]

A general-purpose "Computer" is a computational device that is Turing-complete in a practical way. The first computer constructed was the ENIAC and the first computer to be designed was the Analytical Engine by Charles Babbage in 1837.

[triadwarfare]

3:20 I recall this is "Inertial navigation". Even with modern tech, there's tendency to drift without supporting technology like in cruise missiles, where the Tomahawks launched against Iraq weren't guided by GPS at first and they had to travel through mountains so they have the topographical data so it doesn't get lost in the featureless desert.

Also, the Mi-24 Hind has a dynamic paper map which moves along with your location, but constantly drifts so you'll have to make adjustments using landmarks if it drifts too far.

[murder.simulator]

Like all ancient people they struggled to use even the most basic functions and kept pestering young kids to show them how it works. The sun dial, the abacus, Stonehenge

[maddan.]

It feels like @Clickspring deserves a mention here for the amazing work they're doing on the Antikythera mechanism, amongst others.

[rekire___]

Perhaps the first computer is the one we build along the way

[christophermullins]

Abacus is a tool for a human computer. It is not a computer on itself.

[anonymouschicken]

Just the Antikythera calendar? Is that the *only* ancient Greek computer?
We have a whole museum in Athens dedicated to Ancient Greek automats.