Though the modern computer and internet are relatively recent inventions, the importance of maintaining data and the power that comes with it was not lost on our ancestors. A surprising source of inspiration for the creation of the world-wide web. On a lighter note, how petroleum jelly is essential for internet access and on a sombre one, how the internet is changing for the better and the worse.

© 2020 Tanay and Sach

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TV quote, presumed under Fair Use: The voice of Thomas Middleditch from Silicon Valley. Richard Hendricks gives an impassioned testimony to the US Congress.

Computer icon from Smashicons.

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Links:

First, erratum: earliest programmable device was an Iraqi flute in 9th century, not a French loom in the 18th.

http://historymesh.com/object/automatic-flute-player/

One of the very first demographic databases:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30725-X/fulltext

Florence Nightingale was a data wiz!

https://understandinguncertainty.org/coxcombs

The map that the other John Snow’s made against a mortal threat:

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/mar/15/john-snow-cholera-map

The link from British colonisation of India to the loom that inspired computers, A PhD dissertation at Maastricht University:

https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/4083287/c5295.pdf 

Petroleum jelly protects your face and deep sea cables!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve810FHZ1CQ

The looming Balkanization of the internet:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/05/24/239073/trumps-feud-with-huawei-and-china-could-lead-to-the-balkanization-of-tech/

The decentralised internet from HBO’s Silicon Valley might soon be a reality.

https://www.wired.com/2017/06/pied-pipers-new-internet-isnt-just-possible-almost/

The computer game that runs more websites than a (specific) country:

https://www.cnet.com/news/north-korea-accidentally-allows-international-access-to-its-28-websites/

Counterpoint to the Target story in our Marketing episode. Tesco sets an example:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/05/17/239101/grocery-bills-can-predict-diabetes-rates-by-neighborhood/

Blockchain and sex:

https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2018/08/30/the-promise-of-the-blockchain-technology

Progress in translating the language of the brain (recognising faces):

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-we-save-face-researchers-crack-the-brains-facial-recognition-code/

Your child’s ‘external hard disk’ at the office could be ‘alive’!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dna-data-storage-is-closer-than-you-think/

Full circle from jacquard looms... knitting is like coding:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/science/math-physics-knitting-matsumoto.html

Tips to incorporate sound into UI, UX design projects:

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2019/05/future-design-voice-prototypes/

Profile of Dr. Barbara McGillivray, a computational linguist:

https://www.mmll.cam.ac.uk/bm517

Who’s the greatest musician (/painter/actor/writer) of all time? Hard numbers. 

https://www.pantheon.media.mit.edu