From Plugboards to JIT: Who Controls the Hardware?

Ever wonder how we got from physically rewiring computers to languages that optimize themselves at runtime? This episode traces the evolution of programming languages through the lens of who makes the decisions about hardware. From ENIAC's plugboards to FORTRAN's trusted compilers to the virtual machines of Smalltalk and beyond, we explore how intermediaries got smarter than us — and what that means for the future of computing. Episode #214575 — open it directly at myweirdprompts.com/214575