5 ms·
Rethinking the Origins of the Lock
- abecedarius 11y agoSomething I've wondered: is the lock the first machine to do a discrete, conditional action? That'd make it a kind of ancestor to digital computers, before various automata and then Jacquard and Babbage. Feedback control goes back to the first millennium BC, too, but that seems more like analog computing.
- bandrami 11y agoThat might be the screw (hold if push, moved if twisted). Though I suppose a screw could be seen as a very basic kind of lock.
- abecedarius 11y agoInteresting point of view -- I hadn't thought of it that way. It seems to be a more recent invention, though.
- ggchappell 11y ago> is the lock the first machine to do a discrete, conditional action? Interesting question. I would guess that the answer is "no". Animal traps based on some kind of triggered action probably predated the keyed lock.
- abecedarius 11y agoGood point! I feel embarrassed. Thanks. (Maybe the lock could still get credit for the logical AND?)
- JacobAldridge 11y agoNever feel embarrassed for asking a great question!
- ggchappell 11y agoAgreed.
- frozenport 11y agoCleverly disguised to appeal to my interst in concurrent programming.
- CurtMonash 11y agoMy first thought on reading the headline was to think this would be about database technology ...
- contingencies 11y agoCome on, if you have time to write this why don't you finish the picks you owe us? It's been half a decade already. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/schuyler/lockpicks-by-open-locksport/posts https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/schuyler/lockpicks-by-o...