1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in, UH, and a very very 4 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 1: special thanks to not just our usual super producer Max Williams, 5 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: but to our guest super producer, the one and only 6 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: give it up for in folks, loll Brilliante. Also along 7 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 1: with you, Noel, I'm I'm appointing the dream team of 8 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: Noel and Lowell as officially the most patient people I've 9 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: hung out with today. My name is Ben. I hey 10 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: try trapic and I need to learn how to not 11 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:05,479 Speaker 1: need a phone. Well you know, I think that uh, 12 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,680 Speaker 1: that ship has sailed, my friend, thanks to the subject 13 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: of today's episode. Well in some part of the subject 14 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,320 Speaker 1: of today's episode, Ada Lovelace. No, that's not a porn 15 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:19,679 Speaker 1: star from from the nineteen seventies. It is, in fact 16 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: one of the most important forces in mathematics and science 17 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:29,080 Speaker 1: and modern computing UH to this day. Um who also 18 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: happened to be the daughter of a very body poet 19 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: and lothario note known as Lord Byron Um. I I 20 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: did not know that at all. I knew about Ada Lovelace. 21 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: I did not know she was related to this notorious Letch. 22 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: So yes, yes, just an interesting story and just because 23 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: I'm coming in hot Uh no, well, I want to 24 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: explain to everybody what what's going on here. So we 25 00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: were supposed to record earlier today, but one genius who 26 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: I will name because it was me, left their phone 27 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: in a rideshare service half of this, and I drove 28 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: all the way out to a distant place to go 29 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: pick up this phone and couldn't find it because I 30 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: printed out a map and I was driving back and 31 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:20,239 Speaker 1: I was thinking, oh, no, I'm making the gang late 32 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: for recording. How did we become so reliant on these things? 33 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: And the whole time this story was kicking in my head, 34 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: as you know, stopping and going. And we do owe 35 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: a lot, not just to Lord Byron his love life aside, 36 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:39,519 Speaker 1: but to Augusta Aida King, the Countess of Lovelace, or 37 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:44,799 Speaker 1: Augusta Ada Byron December ten, eighteen fifteen. We know her today, 38 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:50,079 Speaker 1: as you said, as simply Ada Lovelace. She is widely 39 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: regarded as the world's first computer programmer, which means she's 40 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: the first person to take the ideas or the the 41 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: abilities the potential of computational machines and combined them with 42 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: the potential of symbolic logic. And you can find so 43 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: much great writing from her. We were inspired by a 44 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: wonderful article from Wired. We pulled some stuff from the 45 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,640 Speaker 1: New Yorker, the Smithsonian, all the hits, all the hits. 46 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: But no, I love that we're starting by talking a 47 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: little bit about her old her old man, because this 48 00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: guy turns out had somewhat reluctantly married aid as mom. 49 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: Isn't that correct? Yeah, that's right. Um, I don't know, 50 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: he didn't really have a whole on common with his bride, 51 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: Annabella Millbank. Um. She was kind of a little more 52 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: of a bookish type. And you know, Byron he was 53 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: a poet, but that didn't make him like a bookworm exactly. 54 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: I mean, he was out carousing. I think he had 55 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: like a pet bear. He was described as being a 56 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: dangerous fellow to know, uh, just in general, like kind 57 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: of had a reputation, even though his poetry was uh 58 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: and it is quite quite beautiful, and his daughter would 59 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: ultimately become fascinated by it. Despite her father's reputation. But 60 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: her mother, um was really really into mathematics, and she 61 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: came from the upper crust as well and had an 62 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,479 Speaker 1: upper class education, which is, you know, one of the 63 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: benefits to yet when you come from a super super 64 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 1: wealthy family. Uh. Byron was hesitant to marry her, not 65 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: only because maybe they didn't quite see eyed in terms 66 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:34,720 Speaker 1: of their lifestyle, but he just wasn't really romantically attracted 67 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: to her. Um. He kind of looked at her as 68 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: almost like a bullwark, like you know, like a barrier 69 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: kind of against his own. That was described as dangerous 70 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: passion um and that's very true. He was known to 71 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: be dangerously passionate um. And he apparently was known to 72 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: carry on um romantic quite willy nilly with both men 73 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: and women. Round drown round, round, I get around. Yeah. Yeah, 74 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: he's an original beach boy there. Uh. He also he 75 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: had many many mistresses. He had been called mad, bad 76 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:23,599 Speaker 1: and dangerous to know, and he wasn't initially cool at 77 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: all with his daughter from the jump. Uh. He He 78 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,599 Speaker 1: had refused, by the way, to acknowledge one child that 79 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:34,599 Speaker 1: he had already had and had the kid instead sent 80 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: away to a convent in Italy, where the poor type 81 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: died at five years old. But when Adah was born 82 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: reportedly the first words that Lord Byron said to her were, oh, 83 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 1: what an implement of torture. I have a quiet in 84 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:55,360 Speaker 1: you which is not quite I love you. And her 85 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: first words that turned out was maths Um, that's not 86 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: necessarily true. But she was his only legitimate child. And that, 87 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: by the way, fun a little little sub fact. Uh. 88 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: Claire Claremont, which is a great name, by the way, 89 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:11,920 Speaker 1: who was the daughter he had from an illegitimate affair, 90 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:15,280 Speaker 1: was also the sub sister of Mary Shelley, so very 91 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: interesting literary connections all around. Definitely fared better than her sister, um, 92 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: who you know was kind of shuttled off to that 93 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 1: convent like you mentioned. Um. He was not stoked about it, 94 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: Lord Byron, Um. But he deferred largely to her mother 95 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: in the kind of education she would receive. Uh. He 96 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: told his wife that it was his intention to keep 97 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:43,039 Speaker 1: having affairs um with mistresses uh and do his thing. 98 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: And three days later he wrote his wife a letter 99 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: telling her to find a good time that would be 100 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:56,919 Speaker 1: convenient for she and his daughter to leave. Yeah, he says, 101 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: the child will of course accompany you, as certainly proper. 102 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: That child must be the care of the woman whilst 103 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: I carouse and drink my fine wines. Um. Yeah, he 104 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: was kind of a jerk. Uh, definitely remembered for this 105 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: beautiful poetry, but was clearly kind of a garbage person. Um. Yeah, 106 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,640 Speaker 1: So Annabella took this, you know, with this in the 107 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: spirit that it was intended. She definitely read the room 108 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 1: and decided to seeking annulment or separation rather, and uh 109 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: employed attorneys, which she could afford, thankfully, because she was 110 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: independently wealthy, had nothing to do with her marriage to him, 111 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: which is a good thing. Um. And his attorney sent 112 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: notice to Lord Byron saying that Lady Byron positively, oh 113 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: this is actually the quote from the letter. Lady b 114 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:51,640 Speaker 1: positively affirmed that she has not at any time spread 115 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: reports injurious to Lord Byron's character. Uh. He was doing 116 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: that plenty well himself, it would seem yeah yeah, and 117 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: yeah yeah, And we know that there was this implication 118 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: that unless Lord Byron complied with her whiskers, she might 119 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 1: actually start talking. So now you've got to comply if 120 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: you are Lord Byron. So he started thinking of her, 121 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: and this is something that sadly people can relate to 122 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: in the modern day. You ever meet those folks who 123 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 1: are like, oh my ex wife for my ex husband 124 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: or Max, remember how I hate them. This is kind 125 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:38,320 Speaker 1: of where Lord Byron ended up. He started calling her 126 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:43,719 Speaker 1: a mathematical media, and then he later made fun of 127 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 1: her in his poetry, specifically his epic poem don One, 128 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:51,320 Speaker 1: where he says her favorite science was the mathematical She 129 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: was a walking calculation. It sounds like he might be 130 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: talking about Ada, but she never really like met her 131 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:00,679 Speaker 1: father when she was old enough to talk to him, 132 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: and he died so young, dude. He passed away when 133 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: he was thirty six in Greece. Ata was eight, and 134 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,959 Speaker 1: on his deathbed he um In his deathbed, he seemed 135 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: to have a change of heart and he was saying, 136 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: you know, I wish I could have seen her give 137 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: her my blessing. Although you know he also had eight 138 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:24,440 Speaker 1: years to figure that out. Yeah, it's not that it 139 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: didn't really add that. It doesn't really ring true. When 140 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:30,079 Speaker 1: he's you know, and his with his dying, dying breath, 141 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 1: he's like, you know what, I made some mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. Yeah. 142 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: So Lady Byron is rightly just traumatized by this, and 143 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:45,720 Speaker 1: she makes a vow to herself, and she says, I 144 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: Am not going to let my daughter become like her father. 145 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: So I've got to figure out a way to make 146 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 1: her not this just philandering poet poetests and get it. Yeah, 147 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 1: the apple doesn't fall too far from the treat. Maybe 148 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: it depends nature or nurture. Uh. They weren't really sure 149 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: yet in those days, so she wasn't gonna take any chances. 150 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 1: You know. Well, they definitely lived a privileged life in 151 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: a country estate where she was you know, tended to 152 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: by governesses and had tutors and all that. She also 153 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: had a pet cat named Mrs puff Um. It does 154 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 1: say in the Wired article in the research that we 155 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,080 Speaker 1: found that it was a rented house, uh, which makes 156 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: me think that maybe they were like on more like 157 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: in the upper crust world, maybe more in the middle crust, 158 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:35,920 Speaker 1: you know, of the upper crust. Um. But it did 159 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,680 Speaker 1: lead to an excellent education for Ada, and she took 160 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 1: to it beautifully. Um. She you know, her mom really 161 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:47,240 Speaker 1: was genuinely concerned. And it actually is I believe, uh 162 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:51,319 Speaker 1: conjectured by historians that Lord Byron was in fact quite mad. 163 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:55,720 Speaker 1: He was, uh, he was not well, um in terms 164 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: of you know, some form of sexual addiction or you know, 165 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:02,240 Speaker 1: bipolar person. I mean, I don't know. I'm not gonna 166 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: like try to I'm not armchair psychiatrist here, but it 167 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: does seem like the guy that had a few screws loose. 168 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: And she was aware of this and did not want 169 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: that to be inherited by or was worried that maybe 170 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:15,080 Speaker 1: it had been inherited. So she was gonna fight tooth 171 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:17,840 Speaker 1: and nail to keep her from becoming her father, like 172 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 1: you said, um, And in her mind, the education was 173 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: the path toward that life for her. So she was enrolled, 174 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:29,200 Speaker 1: um in this really really intense homeschooling program. She covered 175 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,680 Speaker 1: most of the basics of you know, any education that 176 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 1: with children with that kind of access would get, like 177 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,079 Speaker 1: language and science and all that. But her mom was 178 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:42,600 Speaker 1: a big fan of math, and so she really pushed 179 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 1: her daughter into mathematics, which would have been, while not 180 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 1: unheard of, a little more rare for a young woman 181 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:51,840 Speaker 1: to to focus on, you know, the study of of 182 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,760 Speaker 1: of logic and reason in mathematics, especially in the eighteen 183 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: hundreds in England. And she was in this game from 184 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:05,839 Speaker 1: the age of four. She's very very quick study, a 185 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: smart student, when she was only twelve years old, she 186 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:14,120 Speaker 1: decided that she wanted to try to fly. Unlike that 187 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 1: alchemist John Damian that we mentioned earlier, she didn't yeah, 188 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:22,839 Speaker 1: she had immediately strapped chicken feathers to herself and jump 189 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: off a building. She said, okay, well, let me let 190 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,480 Speaker 1: me learn from the pros who were the flying pros 191 00:12:28,559 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 1: I'm aware of, And she started looking at birds. She 192 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:35,079 Speaker 1: became a birdwatcher, and she was thinking, okay, how do 193 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: birds fly? Could I build something that could help me fly? 194 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:41,959 Speaker 1: Could I build wings? So she worked with feathers, paper, 195 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:48,200 Speaker 1: and silk, and according to her biographer Betty Alexandre Toole, 196 00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:53,920 Speaker 1: this is her research began in eight is and she 197 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:58,440 Speaker 1: went on to write an illustrated guide about her research 198 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 1: called fly Ology, which is just like the sweetest, most 199 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,960 Speaker 1: impressive thing. It's durable, uh, and then it's just to 200 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: be clear too. She wrote and illustrated that book herself. 201 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,520 Speaker 1: Definitely had some pretty broad talents. Sure. Her mom a 202 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:15,200 Speaker 1: let her about this, saying, I've got a scheme to 203 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:17,520 Speaker 1: make a thing in the form of a horse with 204 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: a steam engine on the inside, so contrived as to 205 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,440 Speaker 1: move an immense pair of wings fixed on the outside 206 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:26,559 Speaker 1: of the horse in such a manner as to carry 207 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: it up into the air while a person sits on 208 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:31,160 Speaker 1: his back. Okay, first of all, this is basically like 209 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:35,000 Speaker 1: a super nerdy, high functioning version of a unicorn or 210 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,720 Speaker 1: a pegasus. So she's like a little girl, and she's 211 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,960 Speaker 1: combining like the kind of dreams and daydreams that little 212 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:46,559 Speaker 1: girls have, you know, um stereotypically with a massive intellect 213 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 1: and creating like a steam powered kind of steampunk unicorn 214 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 1: pegasus situation. I think that's pretty awesome. Yeah, And her 215 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:58,880 Speaker 1: mother is if if we can get a beep there, 216 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:03,840 Speaker 1: little Her mother is terrified because this is too fanciful, 217 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 1: and she's like, I'm throwing all this money out the 218 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:11,960 Speaker 1: window to make sure that you have a mindset based 219 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 1: in logic and you are a rational thinker. I don't 220 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,120 Speaker 1: want to be at all crazy like your dad. Uh. 221 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: And Aida doesn't quite agree, because she feels that this 222 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 1: poetic stuff that her imagination is a big part of 223 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 1: who she is. She's also a teenager at this point 224 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: and fast forwarded and she says in a letter to 225 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: her mother, you will not concede me philosophical poetry invert 226 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: the order, will you give me poetical philosophy poetical science? 227 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 1: And uh, this is is strange because this new iteration 228 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: of that same tension between her parents originally is a 229 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:57,920 Speaker 1: big part of what led Aida Lovelace to become a 230 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: pioneer of what you could call poetical science. And and 231 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: people have written about this and imagine these moments of 232 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,520 Speaker 1: her early life in depth, and there are there are 233 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: a lot of good things to check out in that regard. Uh, 234 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: we would like to recommend a work, a nonfiction work 235 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:20,080 Speaker 1: called The Innovators How a group of hackers, geniuses and 236 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:24,120 Speaker 1: geeks created the Digital Revolution. In this book which talks 237 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 1: about a lost a lot of things and a lot 238 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:31,480 Speaker 1: of players Walter Isaacs, and the author profiles Ada Lovelace 239 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:33,880 Speaker 1: at the opening chapter, which should let you know how 240 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: important she is to you today. Totally. There's also a 241 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: really good um uh talk that I watched on YouTube 242 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:45,359 Speaker 1: on the Computer History Museum YouTube channel by co authors 243 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: of Ada Lovelace, The Making of a Computer Scientists. The 244 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 1: names are Ursula Martin and Adrian Rice and believe they 245 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: both had are associated with Oxford. But I'm really really 246 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: interesting deep dive. They have the Ada Lovelace Archives at 247 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 1: housed at Oxford, So I had like incredible access to 248 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 1: all these letters and things that we're talking about. Um 249 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: but yeah, but poetical science, that's not really a thing. 250 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: It's more of a concept that she more or less invented. Uh. 251 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: And it makes sense because she is you can tell 252 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: from the start even with that, I'm making a joke 253 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 1: about the whole Pegasus thing about how it's like the 254 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: kind of whimsical thinking of like a child combined with 255 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: this like huge massive intellect. But it's ultimately super forward 256 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: thinking and like everything that she conceives of so ahead 257 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: of its time, like she is incredibly pressing it. So 258 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:41,040 Speaker 1: all of this continues exponentially, much like a computer technology. 259 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:45,200 Speaker 1: And in that book you mentioned, Been the Innovators, um 260 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:49,840 Speaker 1: Isaacson writes this wonderful kind of crystallization of like her 261 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: whole vibe. Um Ada had inherited her father's romantic spirit, 262 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:55,880 Speaker 1: a trait that her mother tried to temper by having 263 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: her tortured tortured by having her tutored in mathematics. The 264 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,160 Speaker 1: combination produced in Ada a love for what she took 265 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: to calling poetical science, which linked her rebellious imagination to 266 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:10,399 Speaker 1: her enchantment with numbers. For many, including her father, the 267 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:14,440 Speaker 1: rarefied sensibilities of the Romantic era clashed with the techno 268 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:18,879 Speaker 1: excitement of the Industrial Revolution, but Ada was comfortable at 269 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:21,920 Speaker 1: the intersection of both eras, I think that's the key. 270 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:26,879 Speaker 1: I love that sentence. Um. So she finds her niche. 271 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: And it's not really even a niche that exists yet, 272 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: because the Industrial Revolution is still a relatively new thing 273 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 1: in terms of, like, you know, overall history. But on 274 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:43,400 Speaker 1: January one, she proposed this question about the nature of imagination. Um. 275 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:48,760 Speaker 1: And she decides that it's two things. One the combining 276 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: faculty that seizes points in common between subjects having no 277 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:58,680 Speaker 1: apparent connection, and imagination is the discovering faculty. Pre eminently, 278 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: it is that which of traits into the unseen worlds 279 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: around us, the worlds of science. UM. Yeah, beautiful, I'd 280 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 1: like to talk about that. Yeah, it's a step back here. 281 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:13,000 Speaker 1: So this is something what I find so inspiring about 282 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 1: this is the this is the kind of thinking that 283 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:20,359 Speaker 1: a lot of people have practiced, or a lot of 284 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,640 Speaker 1: people have It's a route to people have gone down 285 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: cognitively in the past. But haven't always written about, and 286 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:28,880 Speaker 1: they've just sort of restricted it at times to their 287 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:31,760 Speaker 1: their musings, or, if you want to be a little 288 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,359 Speaker 1: more lord Byron about it, their flights of fancy. I 289 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: would argue, this is one guy talking on the internet. 290 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 1: But I would argue that this represents a new form 291 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: of a very ancient thing, because the early days of 292 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 1: science were uh inextricably rooted in spirituality, right, the early 293 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 1: centers of learning were also themselves spiritual centers. And so 294 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:02,080 Speaker 1: now what she's doing is um maybe a little more 295 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 1: secular version, and she's saying, Hey, these two things which 296 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:11,120 Speaker 1: we might today call qualitative and quantitative forms of knowledge, 297 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:14,160 Speaker 1: they're not so different, and together perhaps they can vultron 298 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:18,680 Speaker 1: up into more than the some of their parts. And this, 299 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:24,280 Speaker 1: as you said, is a pretty freaky, unfamiliar idea for 300 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 1: a lot of people that she's interacting with at the time, 301 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:32,119 Speaker 1: except for one person she meets who changes her life 302 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 1: and therefore ridiculous historians, changes the lives of everyone who 303 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: is listening to the show today. His name Charles Babbage, 304 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:48,680 Speaker 1: his gig, his bag. He is renowned mathematician. He meets 305 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: aid Up on June five three. She's at this wild party. 306 00:19:54,400 --> 00:20:00,359 Speaker 1: It's chock full of London's socialites, the move ers and 307 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: the shakers. And she's about seventeen years old making her debut, 308 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: and Babbage is much older. He's in his forties. He 309 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: is a widower, and he is telling everybody he can 310 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: buttonhole like anyone will listen to him. He's saying, let 311 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 1: me tell you about this idea I have. It's called 312 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,120 Speaker 1: the Difference Machine, which is also a side note. Babbage 313 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,560 Speaker 1: didn't know this. It's the name of an underground hip 314 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,120 Speaker 1: hop group in Atlanta. That's quite good. So if you're 315 00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:31,680 Speaker 1: like in the ground hip hop, check out Difference Machine. Yeah, 316 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: they're cool, dudes, they are. I don't know. One of 317 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: the guys that makes the beats for him, gauge what 318 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: his difference machine is is essentially, it's a tower of wheels, 319 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: numbered wheels, and you can turn a handle and it'll 320 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:54,760 Speaker 1: do math for you. It'll do calculations. Yeah, I mean, 321 00:20:54,800 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 1: it's it's it's essentially a super bespoke, glorified adding machine. 322 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 1: That's what it's called the difference machine, right, the difference 323 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: It literally is a mechanical calculator. It does more elaborate 324 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,960 Speaker 1: math than just adding and subtracting and doing differences. I 325 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:14,920 Speaker 1: think it you know, maybe I don't know if it 326 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 1: would do calculus, but it definitely not existed. And that 327 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: was the idea was that it could do. It was 328 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:22,199 Speaker 1: more like a graphic calculator maybe, but probably you couldn't 329 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:24,960 Speaker 1: play snake on it. Uh. It never actually got built, 330 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:28,399 Speaker 1: and he was obviously pitching this idea amongst these movers 331 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:30,880 Speaker 1: and shakers to try to get funding to build the thing, 332 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:33,879 Speaker 1: but he ultimately never quite went on to build the 333 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 1: full uh difference machine. I think he did like a 334 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 1: test version of it that was much smaller, Um. But 335 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:43,159 Speaker 1: she was super into it. She loved the poetical sensibilities 336 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 1: of it all. Um. She it could be argued, kind 337 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:51,120 Speaker 1: of got it even more than the inventor himself. One 338 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,359 Speaker 1: of her friends said of this miss Byron Young as 339 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,119 Speaker 1: she was understood it's working and saw the great beauty 340 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: of the invention. And Isaacson in that book talks about 341 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: how important that moment was when she met Babbage um 342 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,800 Speaker 1: in her life. And also he said, Ben, the trajectory 343 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:10,600 Speaker 1: of computers and these little things we carry around in 344 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:12,119 Speaker 1: our pockets that we were allowed on so much to 345 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:13,920 Speaker 1: get us from point A to point B and to 346 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 1: you know, play snake on and like google things. Um. 347 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,960 Speaker 1: But her love of poetry and math, according to isaacson 348 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:25,720 Speaker 1: Um primed her to see beauty in a computing machine. Um, 349 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: which is crazy. It's like no one else. Apparently it 350 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:31,240 Speaker 1: was regarded as a bit of a gimmick by people 351 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,199 Speaker 1: that he was pitching it too at the party, like 352 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:35,080 Speaker 1: they weren't into it. They because they couldn't see it. 353 00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 1: They could they only saw it for what it was, 354 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 1: which was something that already existed in the form of 355 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,720 Speaker 1: like an abacus or like pen and paper, right, like 356 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,800 Speaker 1: why why I need this machine? Would have been huge, 357 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:50,160 Speaker 1: like what forty ft wide and fifteen feet tall something 358 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:55,080 Speaker 1: along those lines. Yeah, it would be a different innovation 359 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:57,920 Speaker 1: on the way, but that's what they what he was envisioning, 360 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:02,280 Speaker 1: and those were the materials of the I'm and obviously 361 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:07,760 Speaker 1: a tow sees something more here. She is thinking big, 362 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,439 Speaker 1: you know what I mean, kind of like a Hollywood 363 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:15,359 Speaker 1: producer people brainstorming in a writer's room. And she thinks, 364 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:19,960 Speaker 1: this is the first step, one of the biggest steps 365 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:23,640 Speaker 1: I can make in this poetical science. I've been dreaming 366 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,280 Speaker 1: about for so long. I need to get this Babbage 367 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: guy to work with me. I need to get him 368 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:34,680 Speaker 1: to teach me. And so she tries to convince him 369 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 1: by writing him a letter. And here's just a piece 370 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:39,640 Speaker 1: of what she says. You can read it at brain 371 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,600 Speaker 1: pickings dot org. She says, I have a peculiar way 372 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:44,959 Speaker 1: of learning, and I think it must be a peculiar 373 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:48,240 Speaker 1: man to teach me successfully. You know, I reckon me conceded, 374 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:50,560 Speaker 1: but I believe I have the power of going just 375 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: as far as I like in such pursuits. And where 376 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,440 Speaker 1: there is so decided a taste I should almost say 377 00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:58,359 Speaker 1: a passion as I have for them, I question if 378 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,639 Speaker 1: there is not always some poor shouldn't have natural genius. 379 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:06,560 Speaker 1: Even what that means in the parlance of these our 380 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: times is look, I'm special. I think you got something too. 381 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,440 Speaker 1: I'm not trying to be a jerk about it, but 382 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:20,200 Speaker 1: I'm a pretty smart cookie. I think you're a smart cookie. 383 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:24,639 Speaker 1: Let's be a smart set of cookies. This Babbage is sold, 384 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:28,919 Speaker 1: and they write correspondencies to each other for years and 385 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:32,439 Speaker 1: years after this, and he talks about her plan. He 386 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,720 Speaker 1: talks about his plans that the stuff he wants to 387 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:38,240 Speaker 1: innovate the stuff he wants to build, and she talks 388 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:43,840 Speaker 1: to him about her ambition. Uh, and Babbage agrees with her. 389 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:48,440 Speaker 1: It turns into like this, you ever have those times, Noel, Well, 390 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:51,320 Speaker 1: we're hanging out with your buds and sometimes you might 391 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:53,120 Speaker 1: have a couple of beers and they just are big 392 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,720 Speaker 1: up in each other and it's like, no, dude, you're 393 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,240 Speaker 1: the man. No, you're the you know you're awesome. You're awesome. 394 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: They kind to start doing this, and at one eight 395 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,679 Speaker 1: thirty nine that big even says, despite the rampant massogyny 396 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:09,120 Speaker 1: of the age, I think you are so so good 397 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:11,320 Speaker 1: at math that no one should get in your way. 398 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,160 Speaker 1: That's that we're translating. He really said, I think you'll tasteful. 399 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,240 Speaker 1: Mathematics is so decided that it ought ought to be checked. 400 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:22,359 Speaker 1: But that's basically the same don't check herself lest she 401 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,960 Speaker 1: wrecked herself, um or yourself, because she was a force 402 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: to be reckoned with my friend. Um. She did get 403 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:33,639 Speaker 1: married and started a family. Uh and you know, lived 404 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,240 Speaker 1: the domestic life for a little bit, but ultimately the 405 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:41,160 Speaker 1: siren call of mathematics was just too loud. Uh and 406 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: uh and seductive for her to to stay away for 407 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 1: too long. Um. She was, you know, kind of told 408 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,680 Speaker 1: by her mother to follow that kind of more conventional 409 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 1: child rearing. Upper middle class UM model. Lady Byron at 410 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,400 Speaker 1: this point is one of the wealthiest women in all 411 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,320 Speaker 1: of Britain um and had a lot of influence and 412 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 1: could ensure that Adah was able to do what she wanted. Um. So, 413 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 1: in a thirty five, with her mom's approval, she married 414 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:19,359 Speaker 1: a not particularly intelligent, but but friendly enough young aristocrat 415 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:24,120 Speaker 1: by the name of Lord William King, who eventually became 416 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:27,920 Speaker 1: the Earl of Lovelace. I don't know love Lovelace what 417 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 1: I'm gonna call it? Um and uh he really loved 418 00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: Ada a lot. He also admired her smarts uh and 419 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:39,199 Speaker 1: remarked that she would would make a great general. He 420 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 1: felt that she would was a good tactician. A lot 421 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,159 Speaker 1: of that is required to to be good at mathematics. 422 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:50,920 Speaker 1: You have to have some strategy solving puzzles in the like. Uh. 423 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:56,359 Speaker 1: So for the next several years, Um, she's mainly rearing kids, 424 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 1: popping out babies. She's got three of them. Uh. And 425 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,119 Speaker 1: she's you know, she's managing a household you know the lady, 426 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,040 Speaker 1: the lady of the house. Literally it's center title. Um. 427 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:06,960 Speaker 1: She did a little bit of horseback riding. She she 428 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: learned how to play the harp, uh, and continued um 429 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:15,000 Speaker 1: doing math. She really was getting into something called spherical trigonometry. 430 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,520 Speaker 1: I I, for one, was always quite bad at math 431 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,160 Speaker 1: and struggled just to even like get through college algebra, 432 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,159 Speaker 1: so never never took trigg. I don't think I did 433 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:27,080 Speaker 1: any calculus, but um, yeah, she was into all that stuff. Uh. 434 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:29,880 Speaker 1: And within a few months of the birth of her 435 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:33,240 Speaker 1: third kid in eighteen thirty nine, she decided it was 436 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:35,639 Speaker 1: time to get back on the horse, the math horse, 437 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 1: and she had some support, I think from Lord William King. 438 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,879 Speaker 1: They had what I like to call the best relationship, 439 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,200 Speaker 1: not as in the best for them, but when I 440 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:51,640 Speaker 1: say a best relationship, I mean one person in the relationship, 441 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:55,399 Speaker 1: William King, was like, oh, Aida, you're the best. And 442 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: the other person in the relationship, Ada Lovelace, was like, ah, Willie, 443 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:04,920 Speaker 1: trying your best. Yeah, you're you're you're What was it? 444 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: One time a German speaker I was in a conversation 445 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:13,280 Speaker 1: with them and they called something I did severely adequate, 446 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 1: which was like the most biggest burn. Yeah, you guys 447 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: get it. I can tell by your faces. But well, no, 448 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,320 Speaker 1: I mean it's like, no matter what he did, how 449 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,280 Speaker 1: is he going to hold a candle to the Lord 450 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 1: of Math? Right? You know what I mean? That she 451 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: was clearly in love with Math. No, ma'am was going 452 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:37,320 Speaker 1: to satisfy that particular you know pursuit. All they could 453 00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 1: do was hope to uh ally and support this journey, 454 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:46,360 Speaker 1: right and to work together with this brilliant mind. We 455 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:50,239 Speaker 1: have decided before we recorded today that we were going 456 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:53,600 Speaker 1: to make this a two parter because you need to 457 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,480 Speaker 1: know the setup for AIDA's life to know uh to 458 00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:02,160 Speaker 1: fully understand the gravity of what she's doing, in many ways, 459 00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:07,080 Speaker 1: working against tremendous odds, given how people the way that 460 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 1: academia thought of women at the time. So I think, no, 461 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,320 Speaker 1: what do you say we we give it a pause 462 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:19,960 Speaker 1: here and come back Thursday with where things get even crazier. Well, hey, 463 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:22,239 Speaker 1: this is a great place to pause, because you're right, 464 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:24,680 Speaker 1: things do start to heat up in a really interesting 465 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: way with a new version of Babbage's machine that we 466 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:32,880 Speaker 1: talked about, and one that would ultimately really truly change 467 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:36,880 Speaker 1: the course of technology. And and and human history. UM. 468 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:38,600 Speaker 1: But we also wanted to take a minute to talk 469 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: to our guest superproducer, Lowell Berlante, who is the producer, creator, 470 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,160 Speaker 1: and host of a podcast that very much deals with 471 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:52,040 Speaker 1: this exact kind of stuff. Uh, it's called Prodigy, Um, loll, 472 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,479 Speaker 1: can you tell us a little bit about Prodigy and 473 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 1: some of the topics that you're stoked about? Yeah, thanks 474 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,520 Speaker 1: for having me. So in two thousands and there was 475 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: this big behaviorist movement with books like Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Um. 476 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: The idea behind it was that genetics or nature basically 477 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:13,880 Speaker 1: just don't matter. But if genetics don't matter, does that 478 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: mean that prodigies can be created? So the first three 479 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,640 Speaker 1: episodes of Prodigy covered are most up today understanding of 480 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: where talent comes from. After that, it kind of just 481 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 1: evolved into like any psychological topic I found interesting, UM, 482 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: like lucid dreaming or narcissism or social engineering. UM. I 483 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:35,160 Speaker 1: have an episode coming out soon about ketamine therapy for PTSD. 484 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 1: Totally fascinating stuff. What's your take on on this kind 485 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 1: of nature versus nurture? This idea that Lovelace's mom was 486 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,160 Speaker 1: so worried that she was going to become like a 487 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:49,880 Speaker 1: spitting image of her father and so like, Yeah, obviously 488 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:52,920 Speaker 1: they were separated and so there was no nurture there 489 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 1: from the father. But like in your studies and in 490 00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:57,720 Speaker 1: some of the episodes you've done, have you found one 491 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,239 Speaker 1: or the other to be strong or stronger force and 492 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:04,719 Speaker 1: and how kids end up? Yeah, well, it really depends 493 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:09,400 Speaker 1: on who you ask. Obviously, trauma is incredibly powerful, but 494 00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 1: if you take that out of the equation, we do 495 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,840 Speaker 1: have some ways to measure the influence of nature versus 496 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 1: nurture um. In fact, we've been doing it for decades UM, 497 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,560 Speaker 1: way before the DNA revolution, and we do it with 498 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:25,920 Speaker 1: twin studies. So identical twins have identical DNA. So cases 499 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 1: where identical twins were separated at birth, we could measure 500 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,840 Speaker 1: their similarity to each other, their birth parents, and their 501 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:37,280 Speaker 1: adoptive parents, and they found that identical twins were at apart, 502 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:41,080 Speaker 1: shared more similarities with their birth parents. If you want 503 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 1: to hear more about those studies, you can listen to 504 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:46,719 Speaker 1: my third episode the Source Code. Also, there's a documentary 505 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: called Three Identical Strangers that's really good. Yeah, and I 506 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:54,400 Speaker 1: can't recommend Prodigy enough this is not me blow and 507 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,000 Speaker 1: smoke a little. I've I've told people about this stuff. 508 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,280 Speaker 1: You you and I have talked before, particularly about your 509 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:04,640 Speaker 1: episode on the UNI bomber Ted Kaczenski, which which I 510 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:08,560 Speaker 1: think I think would be fantastic. Not if it's a 511 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:12,520 Speaker 1: fantastic listen, um, especially if you're a fan of our 512 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: other shows. Stuff they don't want you to know. Also, 513 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 1: I didn't want to interrupt you guys, but I do 514 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:21,240 Speaker 1: have to step in. I don't think this show devolved 515 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 1: into that. I think it evolved really really special. So 516 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:30,040 Speaker 1: so what we're gonna do is we're gonna come back 517 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 1: with one and only guest super producer, Little Brilliante in 518 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:41,360 Speaker 1: part two of our episode on Ada Lovelace. In the meantime, 519 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:44,640 Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, thank you so much to all 520 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,400 Speaker 1: the hits, all all our friends and fan are felt 521 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: ridiculous historians, Casey Pegram, thanks to Max Williams, Noel of course, 522 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 1: thank you to you. Thanks to both of you guys 523 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:59,000 Speaker 1: for having my back. I totally forgot traffic was a thing. Yeah, well, 524 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 1: I mean it's like you said, uh, we can thank 525 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 1: slash curse people like Babbage and Aida Lovelace for you know, 526 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:12,360 Speaker 1: literally kind of depriving us of parts of our brains 527 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:14,880 Speaker 1: that used to do things like remember directions or like 528 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:17,920 Speaker 1: memorized maps or even just read maps. There's I mean, 529 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:20,600 Speaker 1: it's it's great. It's a double edged sword. Obviously, we 530 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 1: work for the Internet and we love a lot about it, 531 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:27,240 Speaker 1: but technology really does when you start to lean on 532 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,360 Speaker 1: it a little too hard, it can kind of become 533 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:32,760 Speaker 1: a crutch, a weird crutch, or something that you know, 534 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,600 Speaker 1: makes you dumber while also giving you incredible access to 535 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:40,200 Speaker 1: information or it could make you, you know, weird. Increasingly 536 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:44,200 Speaker 1: into the age of cybernetics, what makes you a cyborg? 537 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:46,560 Speaker 1: Is it an implant in your brain or is it, 538 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 1: you know, being attached to your phone? How much what's 539 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:52,400 Speaker 1: the line of relied on technology? A million percent? We're 540 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,000 Speaker 1: gonna definitely talk about that. In the episode two, Lovelace 541 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:59,320 Speaker 1: actually has a pretty awesome hot take about AI before 542 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: it was even something everybody can see like she was, 543 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 1: like I said, very very imprescient. Um. So yeah, thank 544 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,359 Speaker 1: you too, Ben. Looking forward to getting back um and 545 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:14,240 Speaker 1: tackling part two of Ada Lovelace. We'll see you next time, folks. 546 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,120 Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the I 547 00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:24,080 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to 548 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:25,000 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.