analog vs. digital

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Among the interesting features of analog computers is that they can be mechanically or hydraulically, rather than purely electrically driven.  Kind of a steam-punk sensibility:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_sort

http://www.inetdaemon.com/tutorials/theory/signals/analog_vs_digital.shtml

Laura

>I had an electronics teacher once who decried the digital revolution. He thought that the decline of analog electronics, the abandonment of the development of analog-based computers and technologies, was a loss to society. Similar to quaternions vs. vectors?
>
>Laura
>
>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Mark Kohut 
>
>> Q: surely true what you say about the Quaternions, but are they not also in AtD
>> a metaphor for more than what the Vectorists are?.....another example of a 'lost larger range"?.......
>> 
>> and even this larger range, mathematics---which lead inevitably to bad things?---is another
>> archangel of death?
>> 
>> ????
>>
>>robinlandseadel at comcast.net wrote:
>> Mark Kohut:
>>concept of Pentocost appears.....
>>remember C of L49 and Pentocost?
>>The Word......
>>
>>"and it is in this Pentecostal moment that the Quaternions descend, 
>>to take their earthly residence among the thoughts of men."
>>
>>Hamilton recieves Quaternions as a vision, he has a sudden urge to get the 
>>message down so he whips out a pocket knife and writes it into stone before he 
>>loses the vision.
>>
>>If nothing else, Quaternions are central to the development of electronics and 
>>nuclear physics and by extension the military-industrial complex. And of course, 
>>the military-industrial complex and attendant conspiracy theories run rampant in 
>>his novels. As do very specific references to the occult. For me, that 
>>particular paranoia complex peaks in The Crying of Lot 49. Enochian magic is 
>>touched upon in The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow and Against the Day. 
>>It's probably in the other books as well, but these novels are brushed by the wings 
>>of descending angels of death, leaving a particularly dark stain.
>>
>>"and it is in this Pentecostal moment that the Quaternions descend, 
>>to take their earthly residence among the thoughts of men."
>>AtD, 561
>>
>>Thy pitiless unmanning is most meet, 
>>
>>Thinks Ercole the zany Paraclete. 
>>
>>Descended this malign, Unholy Ghost, 
>>
>>Let us begin thy frightful Pentecost. 
>>
>>The lights went out, and in the quiet somebody across the arena from 
>>Oedipa distinctly said, "Ick." Metzger said, "You want to go?" 
>>
>>"I want to see about the bones," said Oedipa. 
>>CoL49, 52
>>
>>She heard a lock snap shut; the sound echoed a moment. Passerine 
>>spread his arms in a gesture that seemed to belong to the priesthood 
>>of some remote culture; perhaps to a descending angel. The auctioneer 
>>cleared his throat. Oedipa settled back, to await the crying of lot 
>>49. 
>>
>>The descending Angel in Gravity's Rainbow is the Angel of Rilke, 
>>the Angel of Shock and Awe. Here, in Hamilton country, the
>>message of that Angel is recieved in the form of an equation.
>>
>>http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele.htm
>>
>>I wonder what to make of the Tundra ad in the link?
>>And, yes, there really is something about I.G. Farben that 
>>makes it stand out from the crowd, don't you think?
>>
>>
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