From Telegraph Wires to Logic Gates
from David's Gemini Notebook Podcast Collection Hosted by David Weissman
What does a backyard telegraph have to do with the processor in your phone? Following chapters 5–8 of Charles Petzold’s Code, this episode starts with a simple attempt to send a message across a fence and follows the physical problems that make better circuits necessary. We trace the path from shared wires and electrical resistance to relays that can switch themselves, then meet George Boole’s algebra and see how AND, OR, and NOT become arrangements of real switches. By the time electricity and logic meet in a logic gate, the foundations of a computer are in place—and the next question is how to use them to count.
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