I like your comment. This was a perceptive reframing:
the fact that Babbage became interested in mechanical computers was a happy accident: he was born at a time and in a place that enabled this interest. Were he to be born 1000 years prior, or half a continent away, he would have probably never have heard of such things as mechanical calculators
Usually people point out that Babbage was incredibly unlucky to have been born just before computers were made practical.
the fact that Babbage became interested in mechanical computers was a happy accident: he was born at a time and in a place that enabled this interest. Were he to be born 1000 years prior, or half a continent away, he would have probably never have heard of such things as mechanical calculators
Usually people point out that Babbage was incredibly unlucky to have been born just before computers were made practical.