But it seems plausible today that his project could well have succeeded at the time…
I don’t think so. Several computing machines were prototyped in the early 20th century, and none of them really took off until they were made fully electronic (ENIAC). Any system with moving parts is just too slow to be of practical interest.
Well, as far as I can tell, even the electromechanical computers of the 1930s were not significantly faster than humans using mechanical calculators. That’s why I don’t think it would have worked in Babbage’s day. More details in the middle of this essay https://rootsofprogress.org/epistemic-standards-for-why-it-took-so-long
I don’t think so. Several computing machines were prototyped in the early 20th century, and none of them really took off until they were made fully electronic (ENIAC). Any system with moving parts is just too slow to be of practical interest.
Back then there was already significant demand for “human computers”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_(occupation)#Origins_in_sciences I think it is plausible than one of Babbage’s steam powered machines could have been faster than quite a few people.
Well, as far as I can tell, even the electromechanical computers of the 1930s were not significantly faster than humans using mechanical calculators. That’s why I don’t think it would have worked in Babbage’s day. More details in the middle of this essay https://rootsofprogress.org/epistemic-standards-for-why-it-took-so-long
Thanks!