Books and algorithms
Two ideas changed the world. In 1448, in the German city of Mainz, a goldsmith named Johann Gutenberg (his full name is Johann Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ) devised a way to print books by putting together moving metal parts.
[ Related article: The most revolutionary invention of the last two thousand years ]
As nation-states extended citizenship rights in the 18th century, state sponsorship of schools began to replace the church-supported instruction that had become the norm in the 16th and 17th centuries [REF: 2] . Literacy spread, the Middle Ages ended, the human intellect was liberated, science and technology triumphed, the Industrial Revolution happened.
Many historians say that we owe all this to typography (I have already signed up to that idea). Although on the other hand, other intellectuals insist that the key development was not typography, but algorithms .
From abacus to computer
Today we are so used to writing numbers in decimal, however, and although the decimal system had already been invented (around 600 AD) it is easy to forget that in the year 1448, it was written in Roman numerals MCDXLVIII.
How do you add two Roman numerals? What is MCDXLVIII + DCCCXII? (And now try a multiplication or a division). No wonder accounting was assisted then, by an expert abacus specialist.
The decimal system was a revolution in reasoning: using only 10 symbols, even very large numbers could be written compactly and arithmetic could be done efficiently by following elementary steps. But these ideas were slow to spread due to obstacles such as language, distance and … ignorance.
The decimal system was spread thanks to a textbook written in Arabic in the 9th century by a man living in Baghdad. Al Khwarizmi, better known as Al Juarismi (his full name is Abu Abdallah Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Jwārizmī ) laid out the basic methods for adding, multiplying and dividing numbers, including extracting square roots and calculating the digits of π.
These procedures were precise, unambiguous, mechanical, efficient, correct, in short, they were algorithms , a term coined to honor the sage after the decimal system was adopted in Europe, many centuries later.
Since then the decimal system and its numerical algorithms have changed to Western civilization. They allowed science and technology; They accelerated industry and commerce, and finally, when the computer was designed, the decimal system became part of its bits, its words, and its arithmetic unit.
Scientists and engineers around the world have dedicated themselves to developing increasingly complex algorithms for all kinds of problems and inventing novel applications, ultimately changing the world.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Gutenberg https://www.biography.com/inventor/johannes-gutenberg
References
1. [ GUTENBERG ] British Encyclopedia: Gutenberg
2. [ EDUCATION ] British Encyclopedia, Educational Systems https://www.britannica.com/topic/education/The-new-scientism-and-rationalism#ref47560
3. [ MEYER1979 ] National Development and the World System: Educational, Economic, and Political Change, 1950–1970 Hardcover — August 1, 1979, Univ of Chicago Pr (August 1, 1979), by Hannan Meyer
4. BBC Video for Open University: Algorithms
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/tv-radio-events/tv/the-secret-rules-modern-living-algorithms
Originally published at https://anotheronymous.substack.com.
