John Graham-Cumming: The greatest machine that never was

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: Yuguo Zhang 校对人员: Hom Liu

So the machine I'm going to talk you about

我马上要给你们介绍的机器呢

is what I call the greatest machine that never was.

是被我称之为有史以来最伟大的机器

It was a machine that was never built,

它是一个从来没有被制造出来的机器

and yet, it will be built.

不过呢,它将来会被造出来的

It was a machine that was designed

它是一个早在人们对电脑没有概念的时候

long before anyone thought about computers.

设计出来的一种机器

If you know anything about the history of computers,

如果你对电脑的历史有一些了解的话

you will know that in the '30s and the '40s,

你知道在30和40年代的时候,

simple computers were created

出现了一些简单的电脑

that started the computer revolution we have today,

标志着我们今天所看到的电脑革命的开端

and you would be correct,

你这样想是对的

except for you'd have the wrong century.

不过你把世纪搞错了

The first computer was really designed

第一台电脑其实是在19世纪

in the 1830s and 1840s, not the 1930s and 1940s.

30,40年代设计的,而不是20世纪的30,40年代

It was designed, and parts of it were prototyped,

它的设计和一部分原型

and the bits of it that were built are here

还有部分制造都发生在这里

in South Kensington.

南肯辛顿

That machine was built by this guy, Charles Babbage.

这台机器是这个叫查尔斯·巴贝奇的人建造出来的

Now, I have a great affinity for Charles Babbage

我这个人对查尔斯·巴贝奇有种清切感

because his hair is always completely unkempt like this

因为他所有照片里的头发都

in every single picture. (Laughter)

乱成这个样.

He was a very wealthy man, and a sort of,

他非常的富有

part of the aristocracy of Britain,

而且可以说是英国的贵族成员

and on a Saturday night in Marylebone,

在马斯伯恩的一个周六的晚上

were you part of the intelligentsia of that period,

假如你是当时的一名知识分子

you would have been invited round to his house

你会被邀请到他的房子去

for a soiree — and he invited everybody:

一个社交晚会--他会邀请每一个人

kings, the Duke of Wellington, many, many famous people —

国王,惠灵顿的公爵,很多很多有名的人---

and he would have shown you one of his mechanical machines.

然后他就会给你们看他的一个机械

I really miss that era, you know, where you could

我非常想念那个时代,那时候你可以

go around for a soiree and see a mechanical computer

去一个社交晚会，然后看到

get demonstrated to you. (Laughter)

一台机械电脑的演示. (笑声)

But Babbage, Babbage himself was born

不过巴贝奇是在18世纪末

at the end of the 18th century,

出生的

and was a fairly famous mathematician.

还是个比较有名的数学家

He held the post that Newton held at Cambridge,

他担当了当时牛顿在剑桥的职位

and that was recently held by Stephen Hawking.

最近又由史蒂芬霍金担当

He's less well known than either of them because

他没这些人那么有名,因为

he got this idea to make mechanical computing devices

他只有创造这台机器的想法

and never made any of them.

但却从未真正制造出来

The reason he never made any of them, he's a classic nerd.

原因就是他是个典型的书呆子

Every time he had a good idea, he'd think,

每回他有一个很好的想法

"That's brilliant, I'm going to start building that one.

他就会想,"太棒了,我准备去把它造出来.

I'll spend a fortune on it. I've got a better idea.

我会投入一大笔钱。但我又有个更好的主意

I'm going to work on this one. (Laughter) And I'm going to do this one."

那我就造这个吧.(笑声) 不对,我应该造这个."

He did this until Sir Robert Peel, then Prime Minister,

他一直都是这么干,直到罗伯特·皮尔（后来成为首相）

basically kicked him out of Number 10 Downing Street,

把他从唐宁街10号开除

and kicking him out, in those days, that meant saying,

当时开除就意会着对他说

"I bid you good day, sir." (Laughter)

祝你有个愉快的一天.(笑声)

The thing he designed was this monstrosity here,

他设计的东西就是这个巨大的玩意儿,

the analytical engine. Now, just to give you an idea of this,

分析引擎.现在为了让你解释一下

this is a view from above.

这是一个俯视图

Every one of these circles is a cog, a stack of cogs,

每个圈圈都是一个齿轮,一叠齿轮

and this thing is as big as a steam locomotive.

因此这东西就跟一个蒸汽火车头一样大

So as I go through this talk, I want you to imagine

在我说的时候,我想让你想象一下

this gigantic machine. We heard those wonderful sounds

这个巨大的机器.我们可以听到这些由这个机器发出的

of what this thing would have sounded like.

美妙的声音

And I'm going to take you through the architecture of the machine

现在呢我准备给你介绍一下机器的构造

— that's why it's computer architecture —

这就是为什么这是电脑的构造

and tell you about this machine, which is a computer.

然后告诉你这台机器其实是个电脑

So let's talk about the memory. The memory

我们先讨论下内存

is very like the memory of a computer today,

它的内存就跟现在的电脑一样

except it was all made out of metal,

只不过它当时是用金属做的

stacks and stacks of cogs, 30 cogs high.

一叠又一叠的齿轮,有30个齿轮那么高

Imagine a thing this high of cogs,

想象一下这个高度

hundreds and hundreds of them,

有几百个那么多

and they've got numbers on them.

然后它们上面都有编号

It's a decimal machine. Everything's done in decimal.

这个机器是个十进制的.所有东西都是十进制

And he thought about using binary. The problem

他想过用二进制.不过问题是

with using binary is that the machine would have been so

那样的话机器会高得离谱

tall, it would have been ridiculous. As it is, it's enormous.

而且还会变得极其巨大

So he's got memory.

所以它是有内存的

The memory is this bit over here.

这部分就是它的内存

You see it all like this.

它们都是这个样子

This monstrosity over here is the CPU, the chip, if you like.

这个巨大的东西就是CPU（中央处理器）或者说是芯片

Of course, it's this big.

没错,就这么大

Completely mechanical. This whole machine is mechanical.

完全是机械化.整个机器都是如此

This is a picture of a prototype for part of the CPU

这是一张展示CPU的一部分的原型照片

which is in the Science Museum.

来自科学博物馆

The CPU could do the four fundamental functions of arithmetic --

CPU可以做4种基本的运算

so addition, multiplication, subtraction, division --

加减乘除

which already is a bit of a feat in metal,

这对于金属来说已经很不错了

but it could also do something that a computer does

不过它还可以做一些电脑能做的事情

and a calculator doesn't:

但是计算器做不了的

this machine could look at its own internal memory and make a decision.

这个机器可以通过内存的数据来做决定

It could do the "if then" for basic programmers,

它可以为程序员做条件判断

and that fundamentally made it into a computer.

而这样一来它其实就成了一台电脑

It could compute. It couldn't just calculate. It could do more.

可以计算.不光是计算,还可以做更多

Now, if we look at this, and we stop for a minute,

现在,让我们看着这个，停下来想想

and we think about chips today, we can't

我们当今的芯片,我们甚至都看不到

look inside a silicon chip. It's just so tiny.

里面是什么.实在太小了

Yet if you did, you would see something

不过你如果真看到了,你可以看到跟这个（机械电脑）

very, very similar to this.

很相似的东西

There's this incredible complexity in the CPU,

这就是CPU里难以置信的复杂性

and this incredible regularity in the memory.

以及内存中难以置信的规律性

If you've ever seen an electron microscope picture,

如果你曾经看到一个电子显微镜的照片

you'll see this. This all looks the same,

你就会看到这个.看起来都会是一样的

then there's this bit over here which is incredibly complicated.

然后这部分就会十分的复杂

All this cog wheel mechanism here is doing is what a computer does,

所有这些齿轮运作都在做一个电脑所做的事情

but of course you need to program this thing, and of course,

不过当然你得给这个编程,

Babbage used the technology of the day

巴贝奇当时使用了

and the technology that would reappear in the '50s, '60s and '70s,

一种将在20世纪50,60,70年代又会重新出现的技术

which is punch cards. This thing over here

那就是打孔卡片.这个东西

is one of three punch card readers in here,

就是三个中其中一个读卡机

and this is a program in the Science Museum, just

而这是一个在科学博物馆里的程序

not far from here, created by Charles Babbage,

离这儿不远,是由巴贝奇写的

that is sitting there — you can go see it —

就在那儿,你可以去看看

waiting for the machine to be built.

然后等待人们把机器制造出来

And there's not just one of these, there's many of them.

不过那其实还有好多

He prepared programs anticipating this would happen.

他设计了一些程序,期待着它可以实现

Now, the reason they used punch cards was that Jacquard,

之所以用那么多打孔卡片是因为有提花机

in France, had created the Jacquard loom,

法国创造了提花机

which was weaving these incredible patterns controlled by punch cards,

受打孔卡片所控制，可以织出这些的不可思议的图案

so he was just repurposing the technology of the day,

而他当时就在为今天的科技在准备

and like everything else he did, he's using the technology

跟所有他所做的其他事情一样

of his era, so 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, cogs, steam,

他在用他当时19世纪30,40,50年代的科技,齿轮,蒸汽机器什么的

mechanical devices. Ironically, born the same year

具有讽刺意味的是,跟他在同一年出生的

as Charles Babbage was Michael Faraday,

还有迈克尔 法拉第

who would completely revolutionize everything

法拉第最后彻底地将所有东西都改进了

with the dynamo, transformers, all these sorts of things.

通过发电机,变压器以及各种东西

Babbage, of course, wanted to use proven technology,

巴贝奇想要用久经考验的科技

so steam and things.

因此就是蒸汽之类的东西

Now, he needed accessories.

他需要一些配件

Obviously, you've got a computer now.

显然你已经有个电脑了

You've got punch cards, a CPU and memory.

还有很多卡片,CPU,以及内存

You need accessories you're going to come with.

你还是需要一些配件

You're not just going to have that,

没有的那些配件

So, first of all, you had sound. You had a bell,

首先呢，要有声音。你可以用个铃铛

so if anything went wrong — (Laughter) —

如果有事情出错了的话----(笑声)

or the machine needed the attendant to come to it,

或者机器需要一个人工干预的时候

there was a bell it could ring. (Laughter)

就可以摇铃铛.(笑声)

And there's actually an instruction on the punch card

在打孔卡片上实际有个说明

which says "Ring the bell." So you can imagine this "Ting!"

上面写着:"摇铃铛."然后你就可以想象"叮!"的一声

You know, just stop for a moment, imagine all those noises,

你可以想象一下所有这些噪音

this thing, "Click, clack click click click,"

这玩意儿,咔嗒咔嚓咔嗒咔嚓

steam engine, "Ding," right? (Laughter)

还有蒸汽引擎."叮,"没错吧?(笑声)

You also need a printer, obviously, and everyone needs a printer.

你还需要一个打印机,当然,每个人都需要

This is actually a picture of the printing mechanism for

这是一幅关于另外一个机器的打印原理的图片

another machine of his, called the Difference Engine No. 2,

名叫“差分机2号”

which he never built, but which the Science Museum

他从没建造出来,不过科学博物馆

did build in the '80s and '90s.

在80和90年代造出来了

It's completely mechanical, again, a printer.

还是个纯机械打印机

It prints just numbers, because he was obsessed with numbers,

它只打印数字,因为他对数字很着迷

but it does print onto paper, and it even does word wrapping,

不过它可以在纸上打印,甚至可以自动换行

so if you get to the end of the line, it goes around like that.

因此当你到了一行的最后时,就会自动换行

You also need graphics, right?

你还需要图像,对吧?

I mean, if you're going to do anything with graphics,

如果你要对图像做点什么的话

so he said, "Well, I need a plotter. I've got a big piece of paper

因此他说:"嗯..我需要个绘图机,我有一大张纸,

and an ink pen and I'll make it plot."

还有个钢笔,这样它就可以作图了."

So he designed a plotter as well,

因此他也设计了一个绘图机

and, you know, at that point, I think he got pretty much

在那个时候呢,他拥有一个

a pretty good machine.

很好的机器了

Along comes this woman, Ada Lovelace.

当然还有这个女人,艾达 勒夫蕾丝

Now, imagine these soirees, all these great and good comes along.

现在,想象一下这样的社交聚会,所有这样有名利的人都来了

This lady is the daughter of the mad, bad

这位女士就是疯狂,阴险和危险的拜伦王

and dangerous-to-know Lord Byron,

的女儿

and her mother, being a bit worried that she might have

她妈担心她的女儿会继承一些

inherited some of Lord Byron's madness and badness,

她爸的疯狂和阴险

thought, "I know the solution: Mathematics is the solution.

她想到:"我知道怎么解决了.数学就可以解决.

We'll teach her mathematics. That'll calm her down."

我们会教她数学.这样她就安静下来了."

(Laughter) Because of course,

(笑声)因为

there's never been a mathematician that's gone crazy,

从来没有一个数学家最后给疯掉的

so, you know, that'll be fine. (Laughter)

因此呢,那个主意还不错.(笑声)

Everything'll be fine. So she's got this mathematical training,

一切都会变好的.因此她开始了对数学的学习

and she goes to one of these soirees with her mother,

然后跟她妈妈去了一个社交聚会

and Charles Babbage, you know, gets out his machine.

然后巴贝奇拿出了他的机器

The Duke of Wellington is there, you know,

威灵顿的公爵在那儿呢,

get out the machine, obviously demonstrates it,

巴贝奇示范了他的机器,

and she gets it. She's the only person in his lifetime, really,

然后艾达就理解了.她是在他一生中的唯一个人,真正能理解的

who said, "I understand what this does,

她说:"我知道这个机器是干嘛的

and I understand the future of this machine."

我也理解这个机器的未来会怎么样."

And we owe to her an enormous amount because we know

她对我们的帮助十分大，因为之所以

a lot about the machine that Babbage was intending to build

很多巴贝奇想要制造的机器

because of her.

都是因为她

Now, some people call her the first programmer.

现在呢,一些人把她叫第一个程序员

This is actually from one of -- the paper that she translated.

这其实是从她当初翻译的文章得出来的

This is a program written in a particular style.

这是一个特定格式下的程序

It's not, historically, totally accurate that she's the first programmer,

不过历史上讲,她并不仅仅真正的第一个程序员

and actually, she did something more amazing.

实际上,她做了一些更惊人的事

Rather than just being a programmer,

不光是一个编程员

she saw something that Babbage didn't.

她还看到了一些巴贝奇没有看到的东西

Babbage was totally obsessed with mathematics.

他对数学太着迷了

He was building a machine to do mathematics,

他想建造一个能做数学的机器

and Lovelace said, "You could do more than mathematics

然后勒夫蕾丝说:"你在这台机器上不光可以做数学."

on this machine." And just as you do,

其实在这个房间里都每一个人

everyone in this room already's got a computer on them

身上都有个电脑

right now, because they've got a phone.

因为他们都有手机

If you go into that phone, every single thing in that phone

如果你打开你的手机，上面的每个东西

or computer or any other computing device

或者电脑，或者其他任何计算设备

is mathematics. It's all numbers at the bottom.

那都是数学.在底下全部都是数字

Whether it's video or text or music or voice, it's all numbers,

不管是视频或者短信或者音乐,都是数字

it's all, underlying it, mathematical functions happening,

从头到尾都是数学函数

and Lovelace said, "Just because you're doing

勒夫蕾丝说:"仅仅因为你在

mathematical functions and symbols

使用数学函数和符号

doesn't mean these things can't represent

并不代表这些东西不能呈现

other things in the real world, such as music."

其他东西,比如说音乐."

This was a huge leap, because Babbage is there saying,

这是个巨大的飞跃,因为巴贝奇说

"We could compute these amazing functions and print out

"我们可以计算出这些神奇的函数然后

tables of numbers and draw graphs," — (Laughter) —

把数学表格和图像打印出来."---(笑声)

and Lovelace is there and she says, "Look,

然而勒夫蕾丝则说:"你看,

this thing could even compose music if you

只要你给它以数字的形式呈现音乐

told it a representation of music numerically."

它就可以用来作曲."

So this is what I call Lovelace's Leap.

这就是我说的勒夫蕾丝的飞越

When you say she's a programmer, she did do some,

当你说她是个程序员的时候,她的确是

but the real thing is to have said the future is going to be

不过真正的重要是说出了未来会为变成什么样

much, much more than this.

这比作为第一个程序员要有价值多了

Now, a hundred years later, this guy comes along,

现在,一百多年后,有个人出现了

Alan Turing, and in 1936, and invents the computer all over again.

艾兰图林。在1936年,他重新发明了电脑

Now, of course, Babbage's machine was entirely mechanical.

当然,巴贝奇的机器是纯机械的

Turing's machine was entirely theoretical.

图林的机器是纯理论的

Both of these guys were coming from a mathematical perspective,

这些人都是从数学角度的观点来考虑的

but Turing told us something very important.

不过图林告诉我们一些很重要的事情

He laid down the mathematical foundations

他在计算机科学奠定了数学的基础

for computer science, and said,

他说

"It doesn't matter how you make a computer."

“你怎么制造电脑并不重要."

It doesn't matter if your computer's mechanical,

就像是机械电脑，像巴贝奇那种，

like Babbage's was, or electronic, like computers are today,

或者电子的，跟今天一样的，也不重要

or perhaps in the future, cells, or, again,

再抑或将来是细胞构成的，

mechanical again, once we get into nanotechnology.

或者又是机械的,一旦我们进入纳米技术

We could go back to Babbage's machine

我们可以回到巴贝奇的机器，使它变得很小。

and just make it tiny. All those things are computers.

所有这些东西都是计算机

There is in a sense a computing essence.

在这之中有一个计算的本质

This is called the Church–Turing thesis.

这叫做邱奇-图灵论题

And so suddenly, you get this link where you say

所以突然之间,你知道了其中的联系

this thing Babbage had built really was a computer.

巴贝奇当年造的那东西确实是台电脑

In fact, it was capable of doing everything we do today

实际上,它可以做任何我们现在用电脑能

with computers, only really slowly. (Laughter)

做的事情,只不过极其的慢而已.(笑声)

To give you an idea of how slowly,

你要是想知道多慢的话,

it had about 1k of memory.

它有1k的内存

It used punch cards, which were being fed in,

它使用打孔卡片作为输入

and it ran about 10,000 times slower the first ZX81.

比第一个ZX81（1981生产的家用电脑）要慢1万倍

It did have a RAM pack.

不过呢,它的确有个RAM组

You could add on a lot of extra memory if you wanted to.

你可以扩大它的容量

(Laughter) So, where does that bring us today?

(笑声)嗯,那么这个东西给我们今天带来什么呢?

So there are plans.

我们有计划

Over in Swindon, the Science Museum archives,

在斯文顿的科学博物馆档案中

there are hundreds of plans and thousands of pages

有成百个计划和上千页巴贝奇写的关于

of notes written by Charles Babbage about this analytical engine.

这个分析引擎的笔记

One of those is a set of plans that we call Plan 28,

其中一个我们把它叫“计划28”

and that is also the name of a charity that I started

这还是个我与多伦斯韦德（Doron Swade）创建的一个

with Doron Swade, who was the curator of computing

慈善机构的名字,他是科学博物馆计算项目的

at the Science Museum, and also the person who drove

管理人,并且是他将起草了

the project to build a difference engine,

建造差分机的计划

and our plan is to build it.

我们的计划就是把它造出来

Here in South Kensington, we will build the analytical engine.

在这里南肯辛顿,我们还会造分析引擎

The project has a number of parts to it.

这个工程有很多部分

One was the scanning of Babbage's archive.

一部分就是扫描巴贝奇的档案

That's been done. The second is now the study

这个已经做完了.第二个是现在

of all of those plans to determine what to build.

学习所有这些计划去决定应该建造什么

The third part is a computer simulation of that machine,

第三部分是那个机器的一个电脑模拟系统

and the last part is to physically build it at the Science Museum.

最后一部就是在科学博物馆真正把机器造出来

When it's built, you'll finally be able to understand how a computer works,

当它造出来的时候,你就会真正理解电脑是怎么工作的

because rather than having a tiny chip in front of you,

因为与其有一个极小的芯片在你面前

you've got to look at this humongous thing and say, "Ah,

你可以看看这个巨大的东西然后说;"噢,

I see the memory operating, I see the CPU operating,

我看到内存在工作,CPU在工作

I hear it operating. I probably smell it operating." (Laughter)

我还能听见它在工作.我说不定还闻到了."(笑声)

But in between that we're going to do a simulation.

在这之间呢我们会做一个模拟

Babbage himself wrote, he said,

巴贝奇写到

as soon as the analytical engine exists,

一旦分析引擎存在后

it will surely guide the future course of science.

它一定会对于未来的科学有所指导作用

Of course, he never built it, because he was always fiddling

当然,他从未成功造出来,因为他总是在他新计划

with new plans, but when it did get built, of course,

上浪费时间,不过当真有东西建造出来的时候,

in the 1940s, everything changed.

在20世纪40年代,所有事情都被改变了

Now, I'll just give you a little taste of what it looks like

现在,我会给你看下它大概会长成什么样子

in motion with a video which shows

一个视频来展示

just one part of the CPU mechanism working.

CPU的一部分是怎么工作的

So this is just three sets of cogs,

这是三组齿轮

and it's going to add. This is the adding mechanism

它准备做加法.这是加法的工作原理

in action, so you imagine this gigantic machine.

这样你可以想象到这个巨大的机器

So, give me five years.

给我五年时间

Before the 2030s happen, we'll have it.

在2030之前,我们就会有了

Thank you very much. (Applause)

非常感谢.(鼓掌)