Power Vested In Machines

As I read the article "Difference and Analytical Engines" I couldn't help but notice that everything that dealt with the development of a calculating mechanism was done in an effort to produce something that made calculating more efficient and accurate. If we think about it the ability to calculate "appears" only to be important to humans because it is a sense of control that we have over producing functions. Once we are taken out of our customs we become uneasy with new development or wary of putting focus on obscure things. One thing that stood out for me as I read the article "Difference and Analytical Engines" was not only the ability but willingness of the people developing the machines to step back and delegate certain human ability to machines. By allowing the machines to do complex calculations the human mind was freed up to concentrate on new ideas and developments.

As we can see the development of these new machines not only gave birth to the way one could calculate but to new ways of applying calculations on a grander stage. Not to mention new industries arose from the efforts to produce the mechanical engines. As stated in the article, the tool industry benefited because the development of the Difference Engine had an influence on the construction of standardized screw threads which lead to other applications of the screw.  This was in addition to making it easier and faster to calculate numbers.  In response to whether or not new development in contemporary machines and software are making us dumber, well that “appears” to be a generational conflict in away.  Should we ask if new generations are becoming dumber because of computers? Or are past generations not as smart because they did not have the access to the computing capacity available today?