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To: GingisK

Are you being serious?

The evidence for this device being an astronomical computational instrument places computational code within its mechanical components.

If we were provided the engineering specs, a number of us could write the program embedded in those gears.

“Computer” is semantics. In the era in which it is believed to have been assembled, it is the equivalent of a Cray 1 existing in 1940, before Colossus came about.

It is truly a computer, the irony being that even today it is beyond most people’s comprehension.


26 posted on 04/15/2022 9:53:58 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: logi_cal869
You seem to be far out in the weeds. That thing is more like a circular slide rule or a mechanical artillery computer, not a programmable instrument. That thing does not satisfy the requirements of "touring complete".

The Antikythera mechanism is very impressive, actually stunning for the time period. Yet, it is not a "Von Neumann Engine". It cannot be compared to a modern computer; and, it is not a computer in the sense used today. I have been working with computers since 1967. I have been reading and studying the field all of the intervening time. I have made my living in the field; and, I'm an "embedded guy" who skirts the line between computers, mechanical devices, and scientific instruments

Archeologists are not qualified to arbitrarily classify the Antikythera mechanism as a computer.

33 posted on 04/16/2022 10:27:44 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: logi_cal869
To properly communicate we must agree on terms. From the dictionary we see the two definitions:

Calculator: a device that performs arithmetic operations on numbers. The simplest calculators can do only addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. More sophisticated calculators can handle exponential operations, roots, logarithms, trigonometric functions, and hyperbolic functions.

Computer: a programmable electronic device that accepts raw data as input and processes it with a set of instructions (a program) to produce the result as output. It renders output just after performing mathematical and logical operations and can save the output for future use.

The difference, and a very important one, is that a computer is "programmable". This is where I am making my distinction.

35 posted on 04/16/2022 10:38:42 AM PDT by GingisK
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